Misadventures of Grand Chase
by Xire
Summary: A collection of one shots entailing the misadventures of the GC crew.
1. Here Kitty Kitty

**Adventure One: Here Kitty Kitty...**

"Hey don't give me that look, I'm going as fast as I can!" Arme said, flipping through one of the many books that were currently sitting on one of the library's tables. The table would've been completely covered with books if it weren't for a young cat laying on it, staring at the mage intently and smacking it's tail repeatedly against said table in an annoyed/impatient sort of way. The cat was medium sized, not yet an adult, but not a kitten either. It had sharp, intelligent sea blue eyes and gray fur, and currently had it's chin resting against it's front legs.

"Mrow." It seemed to grumble, looking away from the mage in an annoyed sort of manner.

Arme stopped what she had been doing momentarily to reach over and scratch the top of the cat's head. "Aw, please don't be mad at me like that Lass. I said I was sorry, didn't I?" She said apologetically. "If I had known that you had been there I would've been more careful."

A few hours earlier, when the cat-now known to be Lass-had been walking down one of the corridors in the Grand Chase castle, when, unbeknownst to him, a certain mage had also been walking that same corridor a few feet behind him, nose buried in a book and obviously not paying attention to her surroundings. As such, she hadn't realized that a certain thief was in front of her. As a result of this, she had absently uttered a spell from the book she was reading to get a feel for saying said spell, and thus accidentally cast a spell on the aforementioned thief. It was only when she heard a surprised sound come from in front of her and looked up in time to see the white haired bishounen enveloped in smoke. When the smoke had cleared, all that was left was an unconscious cat.

When the cat had woken up, it had gotten a nasty surprise to find out that it was no longer human...and that it was laying on the mage's bed. Although he hadn't minded the latter of the two, as the bed had been warm and comfortable. After that, the mage had taken the thief-turned-cat to the library where she could hope to find a way to turn the cat back to normal. But so far, there was nothing to show for it, except for empty shelves and an annoyed kitty cat.

At the mage's words, the cat rubbed it's head against Arme's hand purring almost too quiet to hear. It was as if to say, 'Alright I forgive you...this time.'

At this Arme smiled. "Okay then, let's keep looking for that counter charm." She said, turning back to the book. It was several of many she had gone through so far-and none had turned up even the slightest hint as to how to counter the spell that had turned Lass feline. You would have thought that the same book that had the cat spell in it would have a counter for it, but no, it didn't. Which the mage found pretty ridiculous and a bit of an error on the part of whoever had but the book together in the first place.

But before the mage could continue looking, the doors to the library were thrown open and in bounced a girl with long pink pigtails and too cheerful for the cat's liking-Amy. The dancer bounded up to the table, stopping in front and trying to peer around the mounds of books to try and find the mage. "Arme you in there?" She called.

The cat put it's paws on it's head, ears pressed back against it's head as Arme replied, "Yes Amy, what is it?" She replied, suppressing a sigh and absently petting the cat.

"Have you seen Lass? We were going to drag him into our sparring match!" The dancer said enthusiastically.

"And who exactly is we?" Arme asked.

"Well you know, me and the others! Well, minus Sieghart, we can't find him anywhere in the castle...ohhh what a cute cat!" Amy finished, after finally managing to push through the books to see what the mage had been doing, in the process knocking several books to the floor. "Where did you find it? Is he yours? Can I play with him?" She asked, picking up the cat who failed to scramble away in time. She hugged the cat tightly, despite its protests, and rested her chin on top of the cat's head. "I promise I'll take good care of him!"

Arme looked at the dancer, and then at the cat, which was giving the mage what seemed like a pleading look for release. Arme just laughed and said, "Alright, you can take him for now."

"Yes! Thanks Arme!" And with that the dancer ran out.

"Just don't throw him at any monsters!" Arme yelled after the girl, unsure if she was heard. She sighed and shook her head, going back to flipping through her book.

It was some hours later, the sun had gone down, and it was almost time to go to bed. The mage was currently in her room, sitting on her bed and flipping through some books she had brought back with her from the library. She was half way through one of said books when she heard a scratching at her door, followed shortly by a cat's meow.

Placing the book down on the bed, Arme stood from the bed and went over to the door, opening it. What she saw was quite the comical sight-Cat Lass was standing there, with pink ribbons in his fur and a pink bow tied to his tail. But that wasn't the funniest of the cat's appearance; no, it was the fact that the cat was wearing a very frilly and bright pink cat sized dress. At the sight of the cat, the mage couldn't help but burst out laughing, causing the cat to grumble a bit as it entered the room. Arme followed the cat back in the room, still giggling as she watched him head towards the bed. At the continued laughing, the cat shot the mage an annoyed look.

"I'm sorry Lass," Arme said, trying to stifle her laughter, "but you just look so funny and cute."

"Mrow!" The cat said in an annoyed tone at the mage before turning and jumping up onto the bed. He then promptly began to try and get out of the dress, but wasn't having much luck.

Arme laughed a little more before going over to the bed and sitting next to cat. "Here, let me help you with that." She then proceeded to reach over and take off the dress that the cat had been wearing. "There, isn't that better?" She asked, before noticing something that was around the cat's neck. "What's this?" She asked curiously, leaning in for a better look. At it appeared to be, bows and a dress wasn't the only thing that Amy had stuck on the catified thief. A collar that was blue and surprisingly not pink hung about Cat Lass' neck. Although of course knowing Amy, there had to be something cute about it, which in this case, revealed itself to be a small golden bell attached to said collar.

"Mow." The cat said, almost in a way that seemed like he would've said, 'Stop gawking at the dumb collar and help me get the rest of these bows off!' as the cat was trying to get a bow off the top of his head but currently failing miserably at it.

The mage laughed once more and reached over, easily pulling the bow out. "There, that better?" She asked, petting the cat's head. Said cat looked about himself, checking to make sure that there weren't anymore and nodding to himself when he found none, he stretched before beginning to clean himself. Arme smiled and stood up from the bed. "I'm going to go get ready for bed, ok? And don't you dare peak." She said.

"Mow." Was the calm agreeing reply, the cat still busy cleaning itself.

By the time the mage was done getting ready for bed, she found the cat already curled up tightly by her pillow, fast asleep. She smiled and got into bed herself, falling asleep not too long after.

In the morning when she woke up she was expecting to find Cat Lass still sleeping by her pillow, only to find that the cat was no where to be seen. "Lass?" She asked, sitting up and looking about her room for any sign of said feline. She frowned when she revived no reply. "Now where could he have gone?" She asked out loud.

Meanwhile, said cat was currently wandering through the corridors, trying to figure out where he was in the castle. He had woken up hungry earlier that morning, and had decided to make a visit to the kitchen to see if he could could his hands...er..._paws_ on something he could eat. But instead of making it to the kitchens like he had planned, he had actually managed to get himself royally lost.

Now normally, a thief like Lass with a pretty good sense of direction wouldn't have gotten lost so easily, especially in the place he lived. But this certainly wasn't a normal occasion, as being a cat had made everything seem quite a bit bigger then he was used to, which naturally caused things to look somewhat different, thus throwing his sense of direction off. At this point in time he wasn't even sure if he could find his way back to Arme's room, where the mage was probably either still sleeping or just barely waking up.

"Lalalalala!" An all too familiar sing-song voice suddenly sounded from somewhere father up the corridor. Instantly recognizing the voice as Amy's and not wanting her to dress him up again, the cat quickly hurried into the nearest open door and hid behind the first thing he found, not fully realizing where he was or really even caring as long as he was away from that crazy dancer. He definitely was not going to leave this spot until he was sure the girl had passed.

At least that was what he had been planning to do, anyways. Shortly after he had hid, his hiding place became non-existent as it was picked up, causing the cat to finally take note of what exacting it had been that he had been hiding behind: a shield. Which could only belong to one person; Ronan Erudon. Which also meant that this room must belong to said person.

Said Knight had noticed the cat, and keeled down to get a better look at it. "Hey, what are you doing here little guy?" The Knight asked.

Ignoring the question and peeking around the Knight to check and see if he could see the crazy girl. Too his relief, though, the dancer was nowhere in sight. He looked back over at the Knight as he said, "Mrow" in what he hopped would get the point across that he wanted to go to the kitchen.

"Hmm, what's that?" Ronan asked, looking at the cat.

"Mrow!" Kitchen, kitchen, kitchen, kitchen! Really, sometimes not being able to speak English could get quite frustrating.

"Are you hungry?" The Knight asked.

"Mow." The cat agreed.

"Alright then." Ronan said, picking up the cat. "Kitchen it is then."

On the way to the kitchen and higher up then he had been last time he had been in this corridor courtesy of sitting on Ronan's shoulder, the cat realized just where in the castle he was. He would've smacked himself if he could for getting as lost as he did. He really hadn't been that lost at all; as the Knight's room was one of the closest to the kitchen out of all of them. All that they would have to do was go to the end of this corridor, turn left, and then go to the end of that corridor and viola, the kitchen. At least no one had realized that it was he, Lass, that had been one to get lost as that was something that he would certainty never live down.

After the arrival at the kitchen, Ronan placed the cat on the wooden table and then went to get said feline something to eat. After a few moments a bowl of milk was placed in front of the the cat. "Sorry about that, but it's all we have for you right now, as Arme hasn't dragged Lass out to the market yet." The Knight explained. The cat rolled it's eyes, or would've if it could. Ah yes, the monthly visits to the market that Arme always managed to drag him on no matter how well he thought he was hiding. As it usually went the mage would do the shopping and he would hold the bags.

But that was besides the point. For now, the cat looked at the milk, contemplating how he was supposed to drink it. He couldn't just simply pick it up in his hands, put it to his mouth and drink it as he didn't have hands at the present. Finally he settled on lapping it up with his tongue, which he found to be surprisingly effective.

"Hey Ronan have you seen-" Came Arme's voice behind the cat, but she stopped herself short after seeing said feline. "Never mind, he's right here." She said, coming up and petting the cat.

"Is he yours, Arme?" The Knight asked.

"I found him yesterday and have been taking care of him since then. I was a little worried when I woke up this morning to find him gone." The mage explained.

"I found him in my room, hiding behind my shield." Ronan explained in turn. "He seemed hungry, so I took him here."At the mention of the cat hiding in the Knight's room, Arme gave the cat a curious look, who, in turn, purposely rang the bell about it's neck trying to mean that it had been hiding from Amy.

"So you've already got a collar for him, I see." The Knight noted.

"Actually that was Amy's doing. She took him off for a bit to play with him, and I'm guessing that's when she did it." Arme said. She then smiled. "You should've seen what else she had him dressed in! She-" But the mage was abruptly cut off from a loud yowl from the cat, and then a look given to Arme that seemed to say, 'You don't need to tell him that!' which caused the mage to laugh a bit. "Well let's just say that she dressed him up pretty." She said, causing the knight to chuckle a little. The cat however, now finished with its meal, sat there cleaning itself, seemingly ignoring the chasers.

Ronan laughed again. "I think he's mad at us now." He commented.

"Aw," Arme said, picking up the cat and hugging it. "Don't be mad, we were just having a bit of fun."

"Mow..." It said in a more calm tone, like if it could've sighed if it could. 'Alright fine.' Was was it seemed like it wanted to say.

The cat rubbed its head against Arme's chin as Ronan laughed at bit and said, "Seems he likes you, Arme."

"You think?" Arme asked, rubbing one of the cat's ears and gaining that same quiet purr as she had the previous day. She smiled slightly at the thought, but then changed the subject. "Well, as Lass is busy at the moment, I'm going to need someone else to drag to the market with me."

"Since when did Lass being busy stop you from dragging him to the market?" The knight stated more then asked. What he had said had been true enough; no matter what Lass would be doing around the castle when the need for a visit to the market arose, Arme would without fail manage to drag the thief with her.

"Knight Master sent him out on a mission, so I can't just go dragging him from that. Besides, it would be much faster to just find someone else that's in the castle, now wouldn't it, hmm Ronan?" Arme asked, speaking with such a tone that you just knew she was trying to talk you into something.

Ronan sighed, and swore he had almost heard the cat snicker. But that was impossible, wasn't it? He shook his head. "I suppose I should go with you then." He said, standing up from where he had been sitting at the table.

"Alright then let's go!" Arme said happily, turning and heading out the door, but not before the cat jumped up onto her shoulder.

When they were standing atop the hill that at the bottom of which held the small village, a surprise greeted them. People were running around in a panic, frightened by the goblins and orcs running about, who were causing mischief and mayhem.

"Stupid monsters!" Arme exclaimed, frustrated, running out to met said monsters, War Staff out and ready to attack.

Everything was going fine and neither the two humans or the cat had gotten hurt, until...

"Arme, watch out behind you!" Came Ronan's voice.

"Huh?" The mage muttered, turning around only to be met with an orc who was about to attack her. But before said monster could carry out with it's attack, the cat came out of seemingly nowhere, claws outstretched and it latched itself onto the orc, teeth biting deep into the monster's shoulder. The orc began raging around in pain,waving it's club around in random patterns as it tried to dislodge the cat from itself. Eventually it did manage to get the cat loose and fling it into a nearby building, but by this time Ronan had had enough time to come up behind it and spear it with his Tyrfing.

"Lass!" Arme shouted, running over to where the cat had been thrown. From the dust cloud that had appeared where the cat had been thrown, said cat could be seen slowly limping towards the mage. "Lass!" The mage exclaimed again, kneeling in front of the cat and picking it up in her arms. "I'm sorry..." She whispered.

"Mow." The cat said weakly, almost as if saying 's'ok...' before promptly falling unconscious.

Arme stood up carefully, cradling the cat in her arms and being careful of it's bad leg. Lass really was cute as a cat...she mused, a slight smile on her face. "Arme," She was cut from her musings as Ronan's voice broke in, "why did you just call that cat Lass?" The knight asked curiously, walking over to the mage, wiping the blood from his blade.

"Um, er, I, that is, uh....Lass, uh he's...well..." The mage stuttered at bit, unsure of what she should say before sighing. "This _is _Lass. I accidentally turned him into a cat when I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings..." She explained sheepishly.

The knight blinked. He certainty hadn't expected that. "If that's Lass, then what was he doing hiding in my room this morning?" He asked.

Arme giggled a little. "I expect he was hiding from Amy. She really did manage to dress him up pretty yesterday." She turned to head back for the castle. "C'mon, I want to get back so I can treat his leg." She said as she began walking towards the castle.

It was now a few hours later and the cat was still unconscious and laying on Arme's bed, it's right front leg now bandaged and and splinted as it had been deemed broken. Arme had managed to recruit Ronan with the helping in finding of the counter charm, and were currently in the mage's room going through the books as Arme wanted to be there when the cat woke up. Although as fate would have it, the cat didn't wake up until the next morning.

Arme had been sound asleep when she was woken up but the cat's pain filled yowl. She had sat up quickly, afraid that something more had happened to said creature. She panicked a bit when she didn't see the cat on her bed besides her pillow where she had last left him, but was then relieved when she looked around her room to find the cat on the floor not far from her bed. She laughed a bit as she got up from her bed and picked up the cat. "Forget that we have a broken leg, hmm?" She asked. The cat just looked away without saying anything.

And so another day of searching began, only to be interrupted by the searchers and a few others going on a mission, which left the cat by himself, although not for very long as he was soon captured by the pink haired crazy girl. By the time the others came back the cat was in a new set of bows and ribbons with a new frilly pink dress. Even the bandage on his leg had been turned pink from the white it had used to be. This was received by a fit of laughter from the mage and a very amused smile from the knight, as if he were trying to hold his amusement in.

Days passed, and still there was no counter found, and the cat was accepted by the chase as a pet, more particularly Arme's, as she had been the one to 'find and take in' the cat in the first place. Days turned into weeks and nothing turned up, except for the rest of the chase that didn't know the truth about the cat stop believing that Lass was just out on a mission and that's why he couldn't be found, which was confirmed by Knight Master, who deemed Lass missing in action. The cat, for want of better communication, learned how to write by taking a writing utensil in mouth. It wasn't the best writing, but it was at least you were able read it, after the cat got some practice, anyway. Weeks turned into months and nothi-wait...

"Arme, come take a look at this." Ronan said one day, after many hours spent in the library on day.

"What is it?" Arme asked, curious, coming over to where the knight was standing in the middle of one of the many rows of bookshelves, the cat perched on her shoulder. "Did you find something?" She asked hopefully.

"Is this the spell you used?" The knight asked, handing the mage an open book.

"Yes, yes that's it!" Arme said enthusiastically, excited that they might've found a lead to the solution.

"Then it doesn't seem like it's very good news." Ronan said, sighing.

"What?" Arme said, worried now. She looked down at the description of the spell to see what the knight could possibly mean. She frowned as she read a certain part of the description.

_...commonly used against enemies or those that the caster wishes to punish. No known counter to date._

"Well, that's not good." Arme muttered. The cat almost seemed to sigh. "Sorry Lass." She said, scratching the cat's head. In turn, the cat rubbed its head against the mage's chin, giving a soft mow as if trying to say it was alright.

"Hey guys what are you doing still in the library? We've got a mission to run! LET'S GO!" Came Elesis' impatient voice.

"We'll be right there!" Ronan called back before turning to Arme. "C'mon let's go."

Arme nodded. "Alright. I'll just put Lass in my Room and then I'll met up with you guys after."

///////

It was later that night when Arme returned to her room to find the cat seemingly asleep at it's usual spot by her pillow on her bed. She petted the cat lightly before proceeding to change the bandages around the cat's leg, as it wasn't quite healed yet and still needed a few more months. As she was doing so, all she received was a soft, tired grumble from the feline. Once she was finished, she went and got ready for bed. As she was doing so, she was thinking about what the book had said. _'no known counter...' _She frowned but soon after got a determined look on her face. She would not admit defeat!

Later on the next day the cat was sitting on Arme's bed cleaning itself when Ronan came. Seeing that the mage was no where in sight, he asked, "Lass, where's Arme?" The cat looked up at him in mid-lick of his paw and gave a look as if to say 'you interrupted me.' Before slowly making its way over to the bedside table where the necessary items to write were kept if he need to use them.

_I don't know where she went exactly. _The cat wrote slowly and carefully. _She just said that she had something to do and would be back later. Why do you ask?_

"Knight Master said there was a mission for her to do. But none of us seem to be able to find her. I was hoping that you'd have some sort of clue." The knight replied after reading what the cat had put.

_Have you checked the library? That is her favorite place. Although I'm surprised she's not sick of the place with how much time we've been spending there...although if you ask me she seems to be taking this 'me being stuck as a cat' thing worse then I am._

"Checked there, multiple times." Ronan answered. "And my guess would be that she feels bad because it's her fault that your stuck like that."

The cat shrugged as best as it could and shook it's head. _Tell me if you find her though, I'm curious as to what she's up to._

"Will do. Do you need anything before I go?"

_Some food would be nice. Haven't been able to make to the kitchen with this stupid leg of mine. I'll be glad when it's finally healed._

"Alright then, I'll be back in a bit." And with that the knight left.

The cat laid there on the desk, wondering what the mage could possibly be up to. Could she actually still be looking for a sort of counter still? But that was crazy, what didn't exist didn't exist. The cat shook his head. But knowing Arme, she just might because she wasn't the type to give up so easily.

It wasn't until a few days later the mage finally made her presence known once again, releaving the others from the worry that she would become missing just like Lass was. Upon her return, the first thing she did was head for her room, where the cat was currently sleeping, curled up in small ball on its usual spot on the bed.

"Lass! Lass c'mon wake up I have something to show you!" She said, shaking the cat slightly. All she got was an annoyed grumble as the cat shifted positions. "C'mon wake up!" But the cat didn't budge, persisting in it's wanting sleep. "Fine, don't wake up!" The mage said frustrated. "I'll show you without you being up!" She then muttered something in a foreign language and there was a puff of smoke where the cat was.

"Mo-oof!" What started out as a surprised mow, turned into a human sound. After the smoke cleared, there was one Lass laying on the floor. On the floor because the spot by the pillow on the bed was big enough for a cat to lay without falling off, but certainty not a human.

Arme giggled happily. "Yes, it worked!"

Lass over on the floor, grumbled a bit. "Thanks for the rude awakening." He muttered before getting in to sitting position, and noticing something new. "Uh, Arme, what's this?" He asked, holding up the gray tail that he now possessed.

"It looks like a tail to me." The mage replied, sitting in front of the once again human Lass. She smiled. "You've got cat ears too." She said as she reached up and touched one of the aforementioned ears, causing it to flick a bit.

Lass shook his head. "Arme, what was wrong with make me all the way human?" He asked.

"Well, the ears and tail weren't intentional actually, it just happened that way. But isn't it just really cute?"

The thief just sighed. "Well, I guess the good part is is that I can move around again without having to worry about a bad leg." Which was true, as the leg that had been broken was a front leg on a cat, which meant an arm for a human.

And so Lass once again came into the chase, telling the others that he had been in the market on the day of his disappearance, and that he had been captured by same crazy old wizard. He said that it took him awhile to manage to escape, but he didn't manage it before gaining himself a pair of cat ears and tail. He wasn't about to tell them that he had been the cat (of which the others had been told that it escaped from the castle and the whereabouts were now unknown), as there were certain things that he knew he would never live down. Like getting lost a few times, and being dressed up by Amy a few times for instance.

And with that, a crazy adventure at Grand Chase comes to an end.

* * *

Well, I hope you enjoyed it, as I had fun writing it :) There'll be more of these in the future, a second (mis)adventure already in the works. Till next time!

-Xire


	2. Bad Moods and Things Wished Left Unsaid

**Adventure Two: Of Bad Moods and Things Wished Left Unsaid**

It had been haunting him again. Those things of his past that he wished were left lost to the darkness of memory. They had a bad habit of coming to him in his dreams, preventing him from a peaceful sleep and leaving him in foul mood once he came back to the conscious world. Those spoken of being what he had done whilst possessed, of heinous crimes of massacre, deception and torture.

Today of which just happened to be one of those days.

As he left his room and made for the kitchen, a scowl was firmly set upon his face. He hated what he knew of his past, along with the guilt that accompanied it. Guilt had been the biggest reason for joining the chase; guilt and the desire to somehow make up for all that he had done. No matter how many times the others would say that it wasn't his fault, it would never erase the guilt. Most times he tried not to think of it, preferring to silently watch the others from the shadows, never saying much, but wanting to feel a part of something but knowing that it wasn't possible. He didn't fit in with the lot of them; they were all here out of the desire to save the world, not the desire to try and ease their stupid guilt.

He shook his head as he entered the kitchen, trying to get the thoughts out of his head. But as always on days like this, it didn't work very well. He grabbed a piece of fruit from the bowl on the table before sitting down in a chair and ruffly taking a bite of his chosen breakfast.

Days like this never went well, as anyone who came in contact with him was liable to get their head ripped off. How many times had he gotten in a fight with Elesis now because of his bad mood? He hadn't bothered to really keep track, as there were far to many to count. On these days, the female knight's fiery temper and his bad mood never mixed well. On more then one occasion the two had to be pulled apart to keep the pair from killing each other, both receiving multiple wounds before hand.

"Good Morning Lass." Came a male voice to his right as the first victim of the day arrived; one unsuspecting Ronan Erudon.

"Hmph." Was all he uttered, rolling his eyes and taking another bite of the fruit, which he finally noted to being an apple. There wasn't anything 'good' about this morning, and he wondered how the knight could say such a thing.

"Well you seem to be in a worse mood then usual this morning." The knight said as he sat down at the table across from the thief, grabbing himself some fruit from the bowl.

"No really, whatever could have possibly given you that idea?" Lass said, voice thick with sarcasm, taking another bite of the apple.

Ronan shook his head, dismissing the sarcasm. "Just try not to get into too many fights with Elesis today, will you?"

"Oh yes, of course you wouldn't want me to hurt your precious Elesis." Lass spoke in a derisive way. "Or maybe it's because you feel like you have to because of that ridiculous sense of duty of yours."

The knights eyes saddened slightly. Days like this the thief never went easy on anyone. "That was uncalled for Lass." He said.

Said thief smirked as he stood up. "That's only because you know it's true." He then left, tossing his apple core in the trash before exiting and heading down the hallway.

Days like this could be said to be his most talkative ones as he would snap at anyone and anything. But when the chase wished that he would speak up more, they hadn't ment like this. On better days he would rarely say anything, and even then very little. But at least then he wasn't trying to bite someone's head off.

The next victim of the day turned out to be Jin.

"Hey Lass, have you seen Amy around anywhere?" The unsuspecting Fighter asked the thief, jogging up.

Lass rolled his eyes, which something he would probably end up doing a lot that day. "I don't know, why would I be keeping tabs on that crazed, pink ball of energy? Why don't you go find someone else to bother? Oh wait, I forgot. Amy's the only one of us that you care to tolerate." And with that he left, only catching a short insulted protest from the other person before he was out of earshot.

Come noon two more victims had been claimed; Ryan derided as a tree huger and Lire flat out ignored as he had been trying to take a nap in a sunny window when she had come to talk to him. Shortly after noon, it seemed a new victim was about to be claimed.

"Lass!" Came a cheery voice from behind him as he was walking away from the kitchens after having lunch, the body belonging to the voice hugging him from behind suddenly.

"Oof. And where did you come from, Arme?" He asked looking a little cross, not even having to look to know who it was, as the mage was the only one who ever hugged him.

"I just come from a long, tiring mission and that's all I get?" The mage said, stepping in front of him.

"Oh yes, so sorry. Glad your home and all that sappy stuff." He said, waving a dismissive hand and looking off to the side.

Arme frowned. Lass was definitely in a bad mood, as he usually would've greeted her with a small smile, a nod, and sometimes even a small 'welcome back'. "Did you get in a fight with Elesis?" She asked, looking at him closely.

"Hmph. Maybe, maybe not." Was all he said, still not looking at her.

"Hey," The mage started, standing on her toes so that she could be closer to his eye level, "you're supposed to look at someone when they're talking to you, you know." He frowned a little, but still didn't look at her. She sighed and went back to standing flat on her feet. "Lass...please tell me what the matter is. I don't like seeing you in such an unhappy mood."

///////////

"So I see how it goes then Tomato Head, it starts to seem like you're losing so you have to call in your big bad knight to come save you hmmm?" Lass was saying in a mocking tone, currently trying to get out of Jin and Ryan's hold, while Elesis, the one who he had spoken to, was like wise being held back by Ronan.

"Why don't you shut your mouth before I come over there and make you!" The female knight retorted in turn.

Lass just laughed dryly. "I'd like to see you try." He said smirking.

"I will try!" She said, trying to lunge at the thief, forgetting that she was being held back by the male knight. "Let me go Ronan! I swear this time I'll kill him so good he'll never be able to return!"

"You know Tomato Head, no matter how 'good' I am killed, dead is dead, and I wouldn't be able to come back regardless. You've got some pretty flawed logic there, girly."

"Why I outta..." Elesis growled, still trying to get out of Ronan's hold.

Said knight shook his head. "Lass, would you please stop egging her on?" He asked.

"Oh yes, because you wouldn't be able to bear it if anything happened to her, I forgot. Or would it be more like you would feel so terribly guilty because you failed as a knight because you failed to protect someone?"

"Lass..." Ronan said sighing. He decided that something more must have happened because Lass was being even harsher then he usually was on days like this. But the question was what was it? Looking back over in Lass' direction, he noticed a familiar purple haired mage coming up the hallway. Arme, she should be able to calm the thief down, or at least find out what was irking him so, as she always seemed to before. "Hey, Arme!" He called, trying to get her attention to get her over to where they were. The mage however, did not respond, or even look over at them, and if she had heard, she was doing a great job of ignoring them, instead continuing up the hall until she was out of sight.

At the mention of Arme's name, Lass had stopped struggling, and watched the mage as she traveled the hallway, looking much calmer and sadder then he had mere moments before. Yep, something definitely must have happened, the male knight concluded. They must've had some sort of fight.

As soon as Arme was out of sight, Lass broke away from his captors, muttering, "I'm outta here." And walking off down the hallway opposite of where the mage had gone.

It was now much later in the day, which had turned into night. Lass was currently out on a balcony, bandages on his neck, face and arms from his earlier fight with Elesis. He was standing by the railing, continually punching it out of frustration.

"You know, if you're not careful, you're going to break something. Somehow I doubt it will be the railing." A familiar voice said from behind him. He didn't have to wait long as the voice's owner soon joined him by the railing.

Lass sighed heavily. "What do you want, Ronan." He said in what seemed like was supposed to sound annoyed, but ending up sounding more tired then anything, his fist finally stopping the beating of the railing.

"What happened between you and Arme?" The knight asked, getting straight to the point.

"And what makes you say that?" The thief asked.

"The fact that you were watching her walk down the hall with such a sad look on your face."

"Nothing...nothing happened..." Lass said quietly, looking away. But soon he relented, looking out at the the sleeping world. "Let's just say that I said things I wish I hadn't."

"Ah, I see. That's how it usually happens, isn't it? But you should go and apologize to her, at least."

"I doubt she'd even want to talk to me anymore with what I said." Lass muttered bitterly.

"If it's not too much...what exactly did you say?" Ronan asked, looking over at his friend.

Lass sighed heavily before beginning to surmise what he said, the memory playing itself painfully in his head.

"_I'm not going to tell you because I already know what you are going to say." He said, his temper flaring, looking over at her with a cold, steely look, his voice slowly raising in volume as he spoke. "And no, it is not alright! You can't even begin to imagine what I feel, or what I've gone through! So don't go telling me that it's alright because it's not! So why don't you pack up and give your sympathy to someone who actually cares!" He practically yelled the last part._

_There was silence for a moment, before something very unexpected and un-Arme like happened: she slapped him, and not all that lightly either. Her face was forcefully kept straight although a look of deep hurt could be seen in her eyes. Shortly after, she ran off, leaving a very stunned thief in her wake._

_It didn't take long for the shock to wear off though, as his eyes softened and he looked sadly after where the mage had disappeared, realizing what he had done. "Arme..." He said quietly, one hand resting on his now sore cheek._

"It was shortly after that that I came across Elesis, and was feeling very frustrated and annoyed at myself. I needed someway to vent it all, and she was just the first thing that I happened to come across." Lass finished explaining. "Ahhh why do I have to be so stupid!" He yelled, punching the railing again, and this time it became a little red as blood came forth from Lass' hand, attribute to how many times he had already hit it.

Ronan sighed. "We all make mistakes Lass, it's just part of human nature; everyone does it at some point, there's no avoiding it."

"Oh yea, but I bet not everyone says something as stupid as I have." He replied. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" He yelled, hitting the railing after every 'stupid.' On the third one, he was forced to stop his beating of the defenseless object as a cracking sound could be heard as Lass successfully managed to break his hand.

"Now didn't I tell you you'd break something if you kept that up?" The knight shook his head. "You know at this rate the nurse is going to think you keep getting injured on purpose."

"Hmph." Lass said, turning around and letting himself slide down to sit on the ground, letting his now useless hand fall next to him, and seemingly ignoring the pain that was stemming from it.

Ronan sat down next to him. "You should still go and at least try and talk to her. The longer you wait the worse it'll be the next time you do try to talk to her."

Lass sighed, looking off to the side. There was silence for a few moments before he spoke. "Alright, I guess I'll try, at least." He stood up and walked towards the entrance of the castle before stopping. "Hey Ronan...sorry about what I said earlier." He said without looking back. "It's just I don't think about what I'm saying when I'm in such a bad mood and tend to say the stupidest things and I don't even mean them."

The knight waved a dismissive hand. "It's alright, I already figured that you didn't mean it, so forget about it."

Lass nodded and left, running off to find the mage and hoping that he could repair things between the two of them. He headed to check her room first, and if she wasn't there he'd go to the library. But if she wasn't in either of those places, then he would have a nice search on his hands.

//////////

He was now in front of the large intricately designed double library doors, hoping that Arme would be inside but nervous at the same time. He really didn't want the mage to hate him, the thought of which bringing a frown to his face. He took a deep breath and slowly began to open the door, peeking inside to see if he could spot the mage. And spot her he did, as she was seen at one of the father back tables, nose buried in a book and occasionally taking notes. At this, he slowly eased himself into the room, ready to dodge and incoming attack that might come from the small mage. But no such thing occurred as if she had noticed him, she was doing a fine job of ignoring his presence. A little more confident now that he wasn't about to be attacked, he sped up his pace, and stopped just in front of the table the mage was at.

"Arme?" He asked tentatively. He revived no reply, causing him to frown. She was definitely ignoring him. "Arme would you please just listen to me?" Still no reply. The mage turned a page in her book, carefully not looking at the thief. Lass hung his head, starting to feel defeated. But he had never liked admitting defeat, and the thought of it irked and frustrated him. "Would you just stop acting like a child?!" He said, yanking the book out of the mage's hands. That certainty got her attention.

"A child am I?!" She said, annoyed, standing up and putting her hands on the table.

"Yes a child! Only little immature brats give people the silent treatment!" He said, frustrated.

"Well at least I'm not a lying backstabber!" She retaliated. "And just so you know, I never want to see your filthy face again!" And with that, she ran out off the room.

Lass gritted his teeth and fell down to the floor, punching the floor in frustration. He had done it _again_ and he hadn't even meant to. He could've kicked himself for it really. Instead of making it better like he had planned, he had done just the opposite. He hit his head against the table and kept it there. Why did he have to be so stupid? Why couldn't apologizing to Arme be just as easy as it had to Ronan? He sighed heavily. It was probably because the knight hadn't been giving him the silent treatment. That and the mage was...well, special. He could never place it into words, but she just was. This was attributed to the fact that he had never been good at expressing his emotions, except maybe the negative ones. He just didn't know what to do or say, as he had never experience that sort of thing before that he could remember.

"_I never want to see your filthy face again!"_

He grimaced at the thought, as the phrase was like a knife that had painfully wedged itself through his heart. So she really did hate him then...he clenched his good hand into a tight fist and stood up. Fine she could hate him all she wanted...so for now he would just have to go find a way to vent his frustration.

///////////

"What happened?" Arme asked as she was approaching Lire in on of the corridors, a few days after her last confrontation with Lass. Earlier she had seen Ryan carrying someone in the direction of the healer's ward, and upon closer inspection she had seen the the person in the elf 's arms to have white hair. That could only mean one person: Lass. She she had asked the first person she had come across what what up.

"What happened with what?" Lire asked calmly, looking over at the mage.

"I saw Ryan carrying Lass to the healer's ward earlier. I want to know why." The mage said as calmly as possible, trying to appear not very worried and only mildly curious. After all, she was supposed to hate the thief, wasn't she? She nodded to herself as she tried to suppress her growing anxiety over said thief. All in all, it wasn't going too well.

Lire sighed. "Apparently for some reason Lass went out on a seemingly impossible solo mission. He was only found a few hours ago, and no one is sure if he is going to make it through the night."

"What about Ryan's resurrection ability?" Arme asked, the panic that was was rising within her becoming increasingly harder to control.

Lire shook her head. "It'll be attempted if he does die, but you know that it doesn't have a hundred percent success rate."

"Doesn't any one know why Lass went out on such a crazy mission?"

"I think Ronan probably does, but-"

"Where is he?" The mage asked quickly, cutting the archer off abruptly.

"Last I saw he was out in the courtyard, training with Sieghart-"

"Courtyard, got it!" Arme said, cutting the archer off again and promptly running off.

When she got to the courtyard, she did indeed see said knight fighting against the immortal person. But that didn't stop her from marching over and promptly slugging the unsuspecting knight right in the jaw, hard. "Why didn't you stop him?!" She almost yelled while doing the act.

"Stop who?" Ronan asked, massaging his now sore jaw. "You know Arme you've got a nice punch right-" But he was caught off as Sieghart kicked him, sending him flying back a bit and landing heavily on the ground.

"Don't get distracted kid." Was all he said.

"Right..." Ronan said, sitting up slowly. "Let's end this match for now, shall we? I've gotta talk to Arme." The immortal just nodded and walked off. "Now then," The knight said, standing up slowly and turning to Arme. "What is this all about?"

"Lass!" The mage exclaimed. "Why didn't you stop him from going out on such a stupid suicide mission?! You're supposed to be his closest friend, aren't you?!"

Ronan sighed and shook his head. "In all truth I did try to stop him, but he had his mind made up and there was no changing it. So of course I offered to go with him, but he wouldn't hear it. And instead of letting me talk him into it, he ran off and disappeared, and you know there's no catching him _then._" He explained.

"Ohhh why does he have to be so stupid?!" Arme said, stomping her foot on the ground in frustration.

"He asked himself the same thing." Ronan said quietly.

"What?" She asked, surprised.

The knight shook his head. "It's not my place to explain. If you really want to know, you'll just have to ask him yourself."

"Then I will!" She exclaimed before running off in the direction of the healer's ward.

Peaking in through the cracked open door of the healers ward, Arme looked for any sign of the white haired boy. She spotted him on a bed not to far away from the entrance, seemingly completely unconscious, his chest raising and falling in an unsteady rhythm. She also noted that not a single part of him that could be seen had gone unscathed, a bruise, cut or deep gash seemingly everywhere, and covered by some sort of bandage.

As she opened the door wider so that she could step in the room, she noticed Ryan sitting not to far away, seemingly on standby. She frowned as she approached the bed. "Ryan, out." She said simply.

"But what if-" The elf began to protest.

"If you are needed I'll call. You don't have to go very far, just wait outside the room or something. I just want to be with Lass alone." Arme said, cutting him off.

Ryan sighed. "Alright fine." And with that he left.

Arme took a seat that was next to Lass' bed. "Lass?" She asked quietly, slowly reaching out a hand to touch his cheek. He didn't stir, didn't make any sign that he had felt her touch. She frowned and tried to hold back her tears. She didn't want him to die, she had never wanted that to happen, had never once wished for it. Sure what he had said had hurt quite a bit, but she found that she couldn't hate him no matter how hard she tried. She placed her head on his chest softly face hidden. She could hear his heart beat, which sounded slow and irregular. A single tear escaped her as she whispered, "Please, please don't die Lass..." It was with nothing short of surprise that she felt a hand placed gently on top of her head. She turned to look, and found that it was Lass' hand. Looking at his face, she found that it hadn't changed from last time she had looked at it. But there was no denying his hand on her head. "Lass..." She whispered.

"I..." His voice came, quiet and strained. "I'm..." He seemed to be having quite the trouble speaking.

Arme reached a hand out placed it back on the side of his face. "Don't strain yourself..." She said.

His hand moved from her head and was placed on top of the one that she had on his cheek. He held it there for a few moments before speaking again. "I'm...sor...ry..." With that said, his hand fell away, his breathing stopping.

"RYAN!" Arme practically screamed, standing up quickly.

///////////

Arme was now sitting on hill, knees pulled up against her chest, crying quietly. There was a tree behind her, which was hiding her from view from anyone that would be looking from the castle. She would often find Lass hiding up in the tree here, where she would often sit in front to said tree and they'd talk. Well, technically she would do most of the talking, whereas he would make a random comment here and there. She'd always enjoyed those moments, it was like the place was their own secret meting place. But that would never happen again...the thought only served to made her cry harder. If only she hadn't acted the way she had when he had come to see her in the library...

"_Would you please just listen to me?"_

Perhaps he'd been about to apologize then...but she just had ignore him, she'd just had to act so childish...she sniffed. Lass had been right when he had said she was acting like a child. But at the time she couldn't help it, it was just the way she was when she was mad at someone...but now she sorely regretted the fact, her crying growing louder and if possible, harder.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there crying, but she didn't really care. No amount of time or crying would bring Lass back.

"Hey, why is such a pretty girl sitting here crying?"

Arme instantly perked up at the familiar voice. She spun around, and rubbed her eyes to make sure that her eyes weren't deceiving her. She even pinched herself to make sure. But sure enough, Lass was standing there, a crutch under one arm and the other hand resting on the tree for support. He looked tired and beaten up, but definitely alive. At this, she couldn't help herself, and quickly got up and ran over to him, barreling him over in hug.

"Oof! Hey, Arme, are you trying to kill me for real this time?" Lass asked, in a slightly pained voice as they had hit the ground somewhat hard.

"Sorry..." The mage muttered, releasing her hold somewhat but not completely letting go of him. "I'm just...but how are you still alive?" She asked, changing mid sentence. "I mean, I saw you, you died..." She said softly, still not liking the thought.

"Well, if you had stayed in the room a little longer, you would've seen me start breathing again." Lass answered.

"But Ryan's ability didn't work! He did it and you stayed dead!"

Lass shook his head. "A delayed reaction, I guess. According to Ryan, I was indeed dead, and after you ran off he went to tell the others. When he came back with them I was apparently breathing again. Although it wasn't until sometime later that I actually regained consciousness. The others would've come and told you that I wasn't dead, but they couldn't find you." He paused there, a little out of breath. It was a few moments before he continued. "So when I woke up they-hey, why are you crying?" He asked, a confused look on his face.

"I'm just so relieved that you're alive!" Arme said through her tears. "And I'm sorry for acting the I did before, I just can't help it when I'm mad, and you were right to call me childish because I was, and-" She was cut off mid-rant as Lass gently caught her lips in his.

"It's ok, Arme." He said softly once he released her. "None of this wouldn't have happened if I had learned to keep my mood in check and not be utterly stupid."

"_Ohhh, why does he have to be so stupid!"_

"_He asked himself the same thing."_

So that's what Ronan must've meant...Arme mused silently. She shook her head. "You're just fine how you are, Lass." She said, smiling slightly. "I'll forgive you if you forgive me one one condition."

"And what would that be?" Lass asked, cocking his head to the side.

"That you never scar me like that again."

He laughed a little, giving her a gentle hug. "I Promise." He said before capturing her lips again.

A little while later the two could be seen coming towards the castle, the mage supporting the thief as they walked, both seeming equally happy.

And with that, another misadventures comes to an end.

* * *

And the second one is now finished. Hope you enjoyed :) I got the idea for this one when I was looking at Lass' character profile and it said his pet peeve was his past. So thus this was born :)

Till next time!

-Xire


	3. Mysteries and Too Much Time on Tropes

This one shot is brought to you by the word Abandoned Laboratory and too much time on tropes. Enjoy!

* * *

Abandoned, abandoned as could possibly be. The simple question remained though; why? It appeared to be some sort of laboratory, old and decrepit, a fine layer of dust covering everything. Who knows when the last time this place was used, or even what it was used for. It even seemed to be starting to even cover her. She didn't know where she came from, didn't know why she was here. What was her name? Even she didn't know. She didn't know anything. She just knew that she existed here, here with the cat. The cat was...what color was he? Were there even any other colors other then the dull, lifeless place that she lived in? Even she was as dull as everything, face blank and eyes completely dull. She wandered the building like a ghost, no real purpose in her mind, the cat ever at her heels, sometimes on her shoulder.

Each day nothing changed, nothing different happened. Wander the halls until tiring, without a single thought about how many times she had gone through the many different paths. Come time to rest, she would stop wherever she was and curl up on the floor. She didn't know how long she was there, nor did she care. Nothing fazed her, nothing changed. That is, until one day.

One day she got up for her rest to find that the cat that had been her ever companion missing from it's resting spot next to her. Standing up and looking forward the cat could be seen crumpled up in front a near by door. She walked up to it and sat down in front of it.

The cat looked to be as if it had gone through quite the ordeal. Fur missing in bunches all over, tail a ragged mess, multiple parts on either ear missing. Along with that, there was some sort red fluid flowing out from underneath it.

She reached out slowly and poked the cat. No reaction. She poked it again. Same result. She picked up the cat and turned it over, revealing a long gaping would.

"_What do you think you're doing? Get away from her!" A young male's voice._

"_We'll do what we want, you cheeky little brat.!" A voice, but male or female? It was unknown._

_The resulting sounds of crashes and screams. "How could you!" A young girl cried._

"_Shut it!"_

_It can't survive here. Send it back._

She stood up, holding the cat and moving to the room she remembered her existence beginning in. There were rags there, along with odd liquids with odd labels. There was a tub, filled a clear dull liquid. She dumped the cat in it. Moments later bubble began to form. She sat in a near by chair. Absently watching.

Surrounding began to blur. Fuzz was around the edge of everything, out of focus there. Why? She couldn't say.

"_Excellent. Excellent. They will make grand subjects. Only the girl was intended by the boy is an added bonus. Commence testing."_

The next day some one else joined. A boy. Nothing was said. He was as dull as she was and as dull as everything else was. A glance. He joined her in her wanderings, her sometimes returning to where it all began. The bubbles where the cat had been dropped never seemed to lessen. She would stay there for a time before joining the boy in wandering.

The boy began to deviate. She didn't care where he went. It changed nothing. Made no difference to her. He too was found some time later in a state like the the cat.

_He must be put of of his misery. Send him back. He does not deserve this place._

He too was dropped in the tub with the cat. More bubbles formed.

"_Please tell me you're kidding!"_

More fuzz.

New items joined. Shattered pieces of what could possibly have been weapons joined the floor. They crunched under her feet as she walked.

She sat in front of the tub watching the bubbles. Nothing changed. The fuzz remained.

_Get in_

She stood up from her chair and stepped into the tub.

_Lay down_

She laid down, fully immersed in the liquid. Bubbles covered all sight of the surface.

"_You can't possibly be thinking of going back in! We barely survived the last time!" _

"_I can't just leave her helpless in there! She's even worse off then we were I could tell! Or didn't you notice that she didn't seem capable of real thought?"_

Two Male Voices could be heard. One with a careful calm the other with barely controlled frantic.

"_Yes I did notice. One look said it all."_

"_Exactly. That's why I need to go back in and try and help with that fact. Perhaps she just needs a little nudge. After all it's not like either of us were much different then her at first."_

"_Then why hasn't she regained that ability back yet then?"_

"_How should I know? If I had to guess though it must be some sort of shield."_

"_Then it must be to keep her from befalling the fate that we ourselves got. You can't say you don't have even the slightest head ache from that."_

"_Yes, I do. It's more then slight though. More like pounding."_

"_Hey, how did you two get out? Get back here!"_

A gloved hand was reaching for her. It grabbed her wrist and pulled her out. She looked around, completely dry. The laboratory was alive once again. It was a man that had pulled her out. He wore a mask over his face and something was holding back his hair.

**Thank you for joining us today. We assure you this won't hurt a bit.**

The man took her to a table. She laid down on it.

_Don't let him touch you._

As hand holding something sharp approached. She slapped away.

**There is no need to be afraid.**

_Sure, just don't let him touch you. I'd advise running._

She got up off the table and began running. Down countless hallways, without a real direction.

_**Hey, where do you think you're going?**_

She stopped. The once dead cat was now standing a few feet away from her it's wounds from before still quite visible on it's side.

_**This way, follow me.**_

The cat then turned and began to walk away. After a few steps it turned to look at her, seeming as if it was expecting her to follow. She did so, not really paying attention to where they were going.

"_Why do I get the feeling that the reason we made it alive was because of something she did?"_

Running, two boys were running.

"_Probably because it was. I think it had to do something with that tub full of that strange liquid..."_

"_What tub?"_

"_Oh right, you were already out by that point. Well she had that cat body that you had in there in this tub that held some liquid in it that was filled almost to the brim with bubbles. Every time I looked at it your body was less and less visible through the glass. I think that had something to do with getting out."_

_A door slammed open._

"_I think I might be able to get back in through here."_

"_So your really going to go through with this? Even though you might die?"_

"_Yes." A firm nod._

"_Even though she seems to hate you."_

_An almost sheepish look, averted eyes. "Of course. Because...because I love her." _

_A small smile from the other boy. "I knew it. So go on already! Go save your princesses."_

She was now in and empty room, the cat pushing the door closed. It turned to face her.

_**Now think.**_

Think?

_Yes think, it would be quite advisable to you right now. You will certainly need it._

Think what? And why? What would it do?

_Stop asking so many questions and just do it. Think of anything, as long as it is of your own doing._

She looked at the cat. Somehow it didn't seem right, like it was supposed to be something different. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing happened. The cat...it had been with her from the beginning. Why did it seem like it was supposed to be something more?

_**Now that you can actually hear me, I would like you to know that I am not an it, but a he.**_

He...the cat was a he.

A tall white haired boy with cat ears and tail flashed in her mind. That seemed more right then the cat did. The cat...was special. The cat had something to do with the two boy's talking that she had been hearing. The voices always seemed to be coming from no where and everywhere at the same time.

The cat swayed on it's feet.

_Better hurry, he's not fully healed yet. He shouldn't even be here in the first place. _

Hurry with what? The cat was so familiar now...him and the cat like boy seemed like they were supposed to be very close to her...

The cat's legs gave out and he fell to the ground. She picked him up gently.

_If you don't hurry, he will die._

Die? He couldn't die...

_**You should know I have a habit of getting myself nearly killed. You really shouldn't worry too much.**_

_He won't be so lucky this time if you don't hurry._

She hugged the cat to her. She didn't want him to die...he was the most important thing in the world to her...

It was then that it all clicked.

The talking boy's conversation that she had heard bits of had been Lass and Ronan. But where had then been? And where was she now? She looked down at the cat in her arms. It's eyes were closed. This scared her. Was she too late? Had he...she shook her head violently. No, she would never accept that!

"Lass wake up!" She shook the cat a bit.

The cat stirred and opened it's eyes to look at her.

_**Sorry, I'm just so tired...**_

"We'll you're not allowed to sleep until we get out of this! I can't run the risk of you dieing on me!"

_**Of course.**_

"Now what? I don't even know how we got here or how to get out..."

_But we do. We have created a passage back with in the tub that was filled with liquid. It sent the others back and would've sent you back the first time but those scientists interrupted and you were not able to go through the door._

The tub was back in the lab, where the other scientists were. They would try and capture her, and if they succeeded she didn't want to know what they would do with her. But she couldn't let Lass die, she just couldn't. If he did, her whole world would crumble...

She began to make her way back to the tub, to where she could get out of this nightmare, even though she didn't know how she was going to fend off the scientists.

_**You're still forgetting some things you know. Things that are very important.**_

Things that were important? What could that be...?

_**Just try and think, it'll come to you. But if you really need it, then I guess I could give you a hint. You know who I am, but who are you?**_

Well that was easy. She was someone who cherished Lass very much.

There came a sort of laugh.

_**I meant your name. Who you are as a person; what your life is like.**_

_It might also help if you figure out who we are._

Her name was...was...she stopped walking, frowning deeply, thinking hard. Everybody had a name didn't they? So she had to have one too. But what _was_ it? Why couldn't she remember it?

_**Think very hard...it starts with an 'A'.**_

A. A for apology, for apparently sincere...for a fight.

The scene came to her, playing in her mind like a bad television reception, the images fuzzy and the audio distorted.

"_Listen, can we talk about it?" He had an almost pleading look his face. He. Lass. Standing on a balcony, he was holding her arm to keep her from running away._

"_What's there to talk about? You're nothing but a stupid, idiotic lowlife male!" She wrenched her arm free before running away._

A fight. She had had a fight with Lass. But what was it about...?

_**I never got to say I'm sorry...**_

"What?" She looked down at the cat, who had it's eyes closed once again.

_**In case I don't have another chance...I really am sorry...**_

_Better hurry girl, he doesn't have much time left in this world. Remember your name and what you do and you will be able to get out of here._

What did she do? She couldn't even remember her own name...but if it meant saving Lass she would try. She, what did she do for a living? She lived with Lass that was sure...other people living with them sounded about right. But why were they all living together if they weren't related? ...Kaze'Aze. Lass had once been possessed by Kaze'Aze. The group Grand Chase had been banded together to defeat Kaze'Aze, gaining new members along the way. She was the mage of the group. She had magic. Powerful magic. Magic that could destroy just as easy as it could heal. In the group there was Lass, Ronan, Jin, Ryan, Sieghart, Amy, Elesis, Lire, and herself...Ar...m...e. Arme. Her name was Arme.

_Very good child. Now use that knowledge to defeat your opponents, and fast._

Arme nodded, determined. She then took up a running pace, holding Lass closely to her. When she reached the lab, she flung the door open, creating a loud slam as it hit the wall. The scientists were all in front of the tub, seeming as about to get rid of it and it's contents. At the sound of the door slamming open, they all turned and faced Arme.

**She has come to leave, and take the beast with her.**

**We cannot allow that.**

**The protocols should have ended her already.**

**Because this one is special. This one we were looking forward to.**

They were all standing in front of the tub, preventing Arme from getting to it. While glaring at them, she gently set Lass down on a nearby table. She then rounded on all of them.

"You will not have your way and I will not let you kill Lass! He's the most important thing in the world to me!" Magic was beginning to crackle in her hands. "If you think you are going to stop me then you've got another thing coming!"

**She has regained far more then anticipated. **

**She most be stopped.**

**She will endanger the project.**

**She most not survive.**

With that they all held out their hands, and thousands upon thousands of sharp, deadly looking swords appeared in the air above them, all pointed directed at Arme. They waved there hand, and the weapons went soaring towards their target.

"There's no way I'm going down that easily!" Arme yelled. With that, she waved her hand and a fierce wind was conjured, knocking the swords off their course, but shattering most of them on contact. Once the winds died down, Arme began to prepare another attack. "Now you will pay for what you have done!" She held out her hand, palm facing the scientists. "Fire wall!" With that a tall, wide, fiery wall roared into life, encompassing of the scientists. It only lasted for a few seconds, but the effect was enough that by the time it disappeared there was nothing left of the enemy.

Her task complete, Arme turned back to where she had left Lass on the table. She picked him up, and was shocked to find that he was mostly limp. "Lass!" She cried.

_If you put him in through the gate now he might survive. But it's almost too late now._

Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes as she gave Lass one more hug before turning to the tub and placing him in it. Within moments his body disappeared.

_Now just get in yourself._

She nodded and laid down in the tub, closing her eyes.

/

The next thing she new she was opening her eyes again, only this time in a completely different place. She stood up and took a look at her surroundings. She was in a small room with dim lights, and the thing she had just stood up from looked like a giant shoe with a glass roof that was currently raised. A male voice sounded from somewhere through the open door and down the hallway.

"Hey Arme have you made it yet? If you have you need to come over here!"

At the sound of Ronan's voice, the mage took off down the hallway towards where it had come from. It didn't take her long to come upon another room that looked as though it had had it's door broken down. She stepped in to see what looked like a small army of men in white coats laying on the floor, dead and bleeding from vital places. Looking up from the bodies and further into the room, she saw Ronan standing in front of what looked to be another of those pods things she herself had woken up from. Ronan was tired looking and panting, practically covered in blood and still clutching his blood soaked Tyrfing.

"Ronan!" Arme ran over to him. "Are you ok? And where's Lass?"

The knight waved a dismissive hand. "I'll be fine." A solemn look came onto his face. "But I'm not so sure about Lass." He said softly, stepping away from the pod to reveal that said thief was laying motionless inside. Arme ran over to him and shook him lightly.

"Lass! C'mon Lass you've got to wake up!" She cried. When no response came, tears began to fall down her cheeks. "Lass please! Don't leave me like this!" She shook him harder. He didn't move, and she began to beat his chest with her firsts, only stopping when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Ronan standing behind her. She stood up and gripped the knight tightly, crying into his chest as he put the arm that wasn't holding his weapon around her, trying to comfort the distraught mage.

An undercernable time passed before a voice broke through Arme's sobs.

"Hey, what's with all the cryin? You'd think I was dead or something." At the sound of Lass' voice, Arme froze, eyes wide and still clutching Ronan's shirt. "Hey, are you trying to steal my girl or something?"

"_You_ were presumed dead. I was only trying to comfort her." Ronan said in defense.

"Uh huh uh huh sure." Lass said.

Lass was alive, not dead. _Alive._ At this, Arme turned around, went over to the thief and promptly slapped him, hard. "You blockhead!" She exclaimed, shoulders shaking and tears still falling freely down her cheeks.

"Ow! Geez Arme why'd you have to hit me!" Lass protested.

"For scaring me so badly making me think you were dead!"

"Why do you care? I thought you hated me." Lass said, sighing dejectedly.

At that Arme slapped him again. "I most certainly do not! How could you even think such a stupid thing?"

"Well it seemed like you did with the way you've been acting towards me lately after that fight we had."

"That's because I was mad at you for calling me 'your girl' like I was some sort of possession, a thing to be owned!"

Lass looked away at this. "I'm sorry about that Arme...it's just that I was feeling a certain amount of jealousy because of the way that guy was treating you...I'm just...sorry..." He trailed off, still looking away and seeming a little sheepish.

Arme sighed and placed a hand on Lass' cheek. He flinched at first, expecting another slap, but relaxed when he realized it wasn't coming. "You need to be better at controlling yourself." She said.

"Sorry." he couldn't seem to stop apologizing, but he wanted to get the message through. "I'm just not very good at expressing myself..." He was still looking away. "I have odd ways of showing what I feel because of it, and it's probably not that effective either..." He finally looked at her. "But...I really do...l-love you..." His cheeks were red as he said this.

Arme smiled at him. "Alright I'll forgive you today on one condition; try and be better next time."

Lass nodded. "Of course."

The mage bent down so she could whisper something into his ear. "I'll let you in on a little secret; I feel the same about you." After that she gently placed her lips on his. He returned the motion, placing an arm around her neck and pulling her closer to him. It was very passionate kiss, and they would've gone on longer if not for the voice that came from the doorway.

"You know you two, there will be plenty of time for that later, but for know we need to concentrate on getting out of here." The two pulled away, both blushing slightly at getting caught, looking towards where Ronan stood. He appeared to have left and come back as his Tyrfing was put away and he was holding a few other things in his hand.

"My staff!" Arme exclaimed, running over to the knight and reclaiming her weapon. "Thank you."

Lass joined Arme at her side a few moments later. "Thanks." He said as Ronan handed him his Nodachi. "So, shall we get going then?"

"Wait I want to know what happened first!" Arme protested. "How did we get and here and end up in that weird, messed up world?" She asked.

"Well," Ronan began, "it started as mission that Knight Master assigned the three of us, which was to investigate a strange building that had suddenly appeared one day. So, naturally, we did."

"Only since you were mad at me, you rushed on ahead of me and Ronan, and managed to get yourself captured by the strange scientists that inhabited the building, which is the one we are standing in right now. They put you in that odd pod container thing, which somehow takes you to the other world." Lass continued.

"But why? What did they want with us?" Arme asked.

"To examine us, find out how we work, as far as I've been able to tell." Ronan answered.

"Or more like find out how you, Arme, work." Lass corrected. "As I heard it me and Ronan were just a bonus, as it seems they were more interested in you. Something about never having seen a magic user before. With us it was just a test to see how long we'd survive in that crazy world of theirs."

Arme pouted. "That's not fair. So why did you two get so hurt and I never did? I think the scientists mention something about a protocol should've taken care of me like it did the two of you."

"As far as I can tell, it was your magic that protected you, putting a sort of shield around you." Ronan replied.

"Oh ya, I guess that would make sense." Arme said, nodding. So then, in that world, she had been spoken to by three voices...one was Lass, another was the scientists, but then who was the third? She thought for a moment before it clicked. Spirits. The third voice was spirits, the ones she drew power from. Also in that world, there had been two like her that joined her. One was or course cat Lass so...the boy must have been Ronan. "I just have one more question though, why is it that in that world Lass was a cat but Ronan got to stay human?"

"How should I know? I didn't choose that form." Lass said.

"Perhaps it's because it's your true nature." Ronan supplied.

"Ya ya, I can see it now! And out here you already are part cat!" Arme agreed.

"And who's fault is that?" Lass said, eying Arme who just put on an innocent look.

"I wouldn't change your cat like features for anything." The mage said. "They just make you all the more cute!" She said this as she reached up and rubbed on of Lass' ears.

"Of course." Lass stated. "And you're terrible, you know? You know my weakness." Arme laughed.

Ronan just shook his head. "C'mon you two lovebirds we better get going. With how long we've been gone, we've probably been declared M.I.A. We need to get back so they know we're alright."

And with that the trio left back to the castle. Once back, they were greeted with a bit of a shock; what had seemed like weeks, even months to them had only been about an hour to the rest of the chase.

* * *

And there you go, probably my most confusing one shot is finished, hope you enjoyed it, at least slightly.

But anyways, yes, I was on tropes when I came up with this. Hence part of this chapter's title. If you don't know what tropes are, just google 'tropes' and it's the first link.

Speaking of tropes I've noticed some of them in my own fanfiction. My favorite apparently is 'Two Guys and a Girl' as most of these feature Lass, Ronan and Arme. The other trope I've noticed is 'Shipper on deck'. Not necessarily in these one shots, but definitely in my Striker story. The shipper being Ronan, and to a lesser extent I guess Arme and Lass as they kept hinting about getting Ronan and Elesis together. In this one shot though, I think I might have achieved the 'Missed moment of Awesome', as the fight between Arme and the scientists probably could've been much more epic. I'm sorry, I just fail at fight scenes and I just write them as I see them play out in my head...I would LIKE to think I've managed a 'Crowing moment of awesome' somewhere in my fics, but I can't be sure and I doubt it.

Anywho, enough with my tropes rant. See you next time,

-Xire


	4. Of Late Night Studying

**Of Late Night Studying**

Well, he's another one shot up and ready to read.

**HEY PEOPLE! GO CHECK OUT TODAY'S INSPIRATION!** It's utsuro's picy over on DeviantArt called 'Late Night Study Time' http:/ utsuro-chan. deviantart. com/ gallery /#/ d2o4vj5 (only w/o the spaces) Go check it out! :D

/=change in POV

"C'mon Lass concentrate!"

"Ugh, Arme, there's only some much studying my brain can handle in one day." I muttered, laying down flat on my back on the floor of the Grand Chase's castle library, next to where the the mage herself was sitting in her chair.

"Oh come on, it hasn't been that-" Arme began, but I cut her off.

"Five hours Arme! How is that not considered long?" I exclaimed, exasperated. "You may have the crazy ability to read for hours straight but I need a break." It was sometime after dinner that the mage had decided to drag me in here, saying something about needing to study. She had taken up a chair that was set near a table with books scattered on the table and the surrounding floor. I wouldn't have agreed to go on this crazy reading binge but she practically dragged me here. She can have her own odd moments of having crazy strength you know. It's almost like she cast Athena's Sword on herself just so she could drag me. Hey... "Ugh." I groaned, placing an arm over my eyes. When we had first come here, the sun was still up. By now it had been completely replaced by the moon.

"Thief not cut out for this?" I heard Arme ask from above me, giggling.

"Haha, very funny." I replied.

"I like to think so." I could tell she was smiling in such an amused/happy way just from the sound of her voice.

At that moment, there came a thumping noise, like something hitting the ground. I pushed my self back up into more of a sitting position, leaning back on my hands to keep myself up. Arme and I both looked up at the ceiling from whence the sound had come from, although it wasn't like looking at it would tell us anything. It was more one of those subconscious reactions that you do automatically, regardless of it being annoying or not.

"What was that?" Arme asked, that cute look of curiosity that was solely her's upon her face.

I just shrugged and laid back down. "Eh, it was probably just Ryan falling off his bed, dreaming about saving forests or some other tree huger activity."

"You sure? What if it's something serious? Should we go check it out? I don't want anyone to be hurt, that would be terrible! What if something broke in? We can't just let them go about trying to-" I shook my head at Arme's rambling. To cease it, I swiftly got up and gave her a light kiss on the lips. I held it for a few moments, cherishing the softness and warmth of her lips before slowly pulling away and sitting back on the floor.

"You should stop worrying so much, Arme." I said simply, smiling slightly at the blush that was currently staining the mage's cheeks.

"L-Lass! You're terrible!"

"And you're cute, what's your point?" I asked with a slight smirk. This just made the mage blush even more.

"S-shut up!" She exclaimed, covering her face with her hands, which just caused me to laugh. After a few moments passed she removed her hands from her face. "You really are terrible, you know." She muttered.

"Heh heh, of course. But say, Arme, why did you drag me here to study with you anyways? You never really gave a real reason."

At my question, the mage got a strange look on her face, somewhere between nervous and sheepish. "Oh, that." She looked away.

"Arme?" I asked, curious as to what could possibly be making her act this way.

"It's about today, during our last mission..." She answered, nervously fiddling with a piece of her hair.

"Oh." I stated simply, looking down at the floor. That hadn't been the best of experiences.

It had been early in the morning, and the whole of the chase was outside, defending the village and the castle from a rather large hoard of orcs. A few orcs alone are no problem, but when there is a whole bunch of them together, things can start to get difficult. About half of them had gone down when the incident that Arme was talking about happened. The mage in question had somehow managed to get herself isolated from the rest of us, and it had been looking like she was about to get severely beat up. I had been closest to her, but even with that I wouldn't have been able to get to her in time to save her, no matter how fast I may have gone. I had been feeling rather hopeless and frustrated with myself with not being more effective, when something rather frighting and surprising occurred. Kaze'Aze appeared, pounding the ground with ferocious force as if using my own frustration as the witch's own. The witch only disappeared after the remaining orcs were completely destroyed. After that I don't know what happened, but according to the others I passed out right after Kaze'Aze disappeared. I woke up what was apparently several hours later, to be greeted by the worried looks of the rest of the chase, along with a tight hug from Arme.

Well, I guess that explains why all the books she's had me look at have been about summoning...I looked over to the mage. "Have you really been this worried?" I asked.

Arme nodded slowly before moving to sit next to me. "I just didn't want whatever happened to go unchecked. I mean, I was kinda scared when I saw Kaze'Aze suddenly appear. And you should've seen the look on your face! It was almost like you were possessed again." She looked down at the floor. "I was afraid I was going to lose you..." She whispered quietly.

I placed a hand lightly under Arme's chin and lifted it up, making it so she was looking at me. "Hey, I'm not about to let that witch take me over ever again. Besides," I reached over and grabbed the still open book that I had last been reading, "look at this, it doesn't sound like anything too troubling, now does it?" I asked, handing the book to the mage.

"Memory summons," She began to read out loud, "can be created when a certain memory is strong or significant to the person. It can be from any sort of experience, wither from man eating giant plants to a person or any other such being. It is not summoning the real thing, rather a copy created from the summoner's memory." She looked back at me from the book. "Lass, that's genius! This really does make perfect sense." She then leaned against me, a relived sigh escaping. "Well, that's a load off, at least." She then smiled and sat up. "Well then we should learn about this as much as possible then! Like how it's triggered and stuff. You know, you could have something really useful here! And you could think of like it's you using her this time instead of the other way around!" Arme buzzed excitedly. That was just like her, once there was no danger about it, she'd be curious to explore. She was rather cute when she did it too.

So after that we began to work even further into the night, researching more about summoning things from one's memory to use in battle.

/

"Do you think we should wake them?" Jin asked, standing in the entrance to the library with the rest of the chase. They had been at breakfast when Amy had rushed in and dragged them all into the library to see the sight that was now before them; Lass and Arme were sound asleep on the floor not too far away, books scattered all around. The mage was curled into the thief, her head resting under his chin. Lass had his arms wrapped around Arme, his tail laying lazily across the both of them.

"They were probably up late studying. We should let them rest." Ronan stated.

"Ya, 'studying'." Jin said, putting air quotes on the last word. "We all know how much those two like each other."

Ronan sighed and shook his head. "Do all fighters have as dirty a mind as you do?"

Jin grinned and was about to make a comment when Sieghart began to move towards the sleeping pair, causing the fighter to forget his remark in curiosity. "Hey, what are you doing?" He asked, but got no reply.

Once the immortal was standing in of the sleeping duo, he crouched down and yelled, "Hey kids love time's over!" This caused the sleeping pair to be started awake, the two jumping a decent amount before realizing what was going on.

"Sieghart!" Lass yelled, annoyed. "What was the meaning of that?"

Said person just shrugged, standing back up. "If you two really have such a desire to sleep with the other, you should do it in your room where you won't disturb others." He said before leaving the room and going back to breakfast.

Jin then slinked over to the pair. "Sooooooo..." He began slyly, "how did the 'studying' go?"

It took a moment for what the fighter was implying to sink into the pair that was still sitting on the ground. Once it did, Lass glared while Arme's face became redder then one could think was humanly possible. "You know Jin, if you're not careful you'll find yourself impaled rather painfully one night. Remember I _do_ know where you sleep." Lass said, taking out a kunai and holding it so that the tip was facing Jin.

"Eh heh heh, well, I think I'll just be going then..." The fighter said nervously, baking up somewhat before high tailing it out of the room, the rest of the chase following him shortly after at a much calmer pace.

That left Lass and Arme alone once more, the latter of the two still blushing profusely. "Hey Arme are you going to be okay? You look about as red as a tomato." The thief remarked.

"Ohhhh I can't believe him!" Arme exclaimed, burring her face into Lass' chest. "I can't believe he would think that! I swear I'll kill him." She muttered the last part.

Lass chuckled a bit. "That's just Jin for you. You'll feel better after you've given him a good firestorm or something."

"That's right!" With that, Arme pulled away, a determined looked on her face. "I'm going to go get him right now and get him so much that he'll wish he never thought of it!" With that she rushed out, staff at the ready, leaving Lass to laugh silently to himself and calmly follow after her.

"JIN!"

"What?"

"FIRESTORM!"

"AHHHHH!"

* * *

"Hey, I'm not about to let that witch take me over ever again" Better watch what you say Lass... http:/ blog. naver. com/ gcblog (again w/o spaces) Have you guys seen this? Well, if you haven't, you should go check it out. Poor guy, looks like he may just be possessed again D:

And gasp! Lass actually managed to go a whole chapter with out nearly getting himself killed off! It's a miracle!

Oh, here's a little fun fact for you: I have by my count 15 unfinished one shots sitting on my compy woo! XD

-Xire


	5. Of Blood

Blood, it was everywhere. On his hands, his face, his clothes...the surrounding ground for what seemed like miles had been stained red, no trace of it ever having been another color visible. Blood flowed in rivers from the dead bodies that were everywhere, brutally slain and without any sort of mercy. Blood was spattered everywhere on the surrounding buildings, like some sort of crude abstract painting. It was splattered on his face, few patches of skin showing, his once white hair now tinged with the color of red. There was a crazy look in his eyes, a crazed, blood thirsty look. He had a terrible grin on as well, one that promised nothing but insanity. He held his blade to his mouth and took great pleasure in liking the blood off of it. He surveyed the scene of his last master piece, silently wishing that the village had been bigger so that the fun could have continued. Oh well, he'd just have to make up for it being small by finding a second village to hit that day.

The sound of footsteps behind him sparked his excitement. Perhaps this wretched hole had more to offer after all...He turned around in mid lick of his weapon to greet who ever may have come. He was met with two people, one male, one female. One a decent height, one short. One had long blue hair pulled back in a ponytail while the other had short purple hair. They both seemed shocked, with a varying degree of horror and disbelief on their faces. The girl took a timid step forward, seemingly nervous before speaking.

"Lass?"


	6. Of Realizations

Today's one shot was inspired by the phrase 'Why would you cry for me?'. It's set back in the time when it's just a little after Lass joined the Chase.

**Of Realizations **

She cried for me, I could believe it. Crying over some low thief like me? It was absurd. I laid there, beaten up, bruised and near death, and here she was, crying as she was trying to heal me. This short, cute mage. I barely even knew her, barely even spoke to her. So why was she crying for me? I hadn't done anything but be possessed and ruin peoples lives. And yet, she was crying, actual tears escaping from her eyes to fall onto my cheeks as she leaned over me. Why...?

Days, or weeks before, I'm not sure, I had first come to be with these people that called themselves the Grand Chase. I wouldn't say much to anyone, preferring to be by myself, and the only time I'd associate with them was on missions. I didn't really fit in with them anyways, me being the only one here to atone for things I had done. When we'd go on missions with the others I'd observer her, see how she cared for the others' injuries. She was so caring about everyone's health, and could be so childlike at times. She always seemed so full of energy, and I would often times find myself wondering where it all came from. And yet, when it came to healing people and fighting, she could be so serious and calm...and she never cried for any of the others when they got so badly hurt. So why was I so special...?

I managed to reach up a hand and brush away some of the tears that had clung to the mage's face. "Why..." I began weakly, "are you crying...?"

She sniffed a bit and wiped away some of the tears. "Because I like you silly." She said quietly, and there almost seemed to be a slight redness to her face now for some reason.

It was then that the world chose to go completely black.

It was days later now, and I had actually managed to survive what would have most likely killed me otherwise, thanks to her. I tried to catch her alone so that I could talk to her, but whenever I would see her she'd be with someone, so I'd keep on walking. I'd wanted to asked her why her face had been red. She had answered my question, but I wasn't about to do it with the others around. The annoying part was, she never seemed to be alone, and it almost seemed to be on purpose. Did she not want to talk to me now? But why, what did I do? Ah, it was all so confusing...

But then, an answer finally came, in the form or the blue haired knight. I would occasionally be out on the balcony to get some fresh air and think, and sometimes he'd join me. He wouldn't always say anything, but when he did, it was usually because apparently I looked like I had 'something on my mind'. He usually had some pretty good advice, or at least he would listen without criticizing whatever I had decided to rant about. I could ask him most anything, no matter how stupid it might have been and he'd answer without laughing or mocking.

This time though, it was about her and what she had said, about the crying, and the redness of her face. And he had just smiled like he knew some grand secret and said, 'it seems like she likes you more then just a friend' and walked off. That had thrown me for a little, but I eventually got what he meant. He meant like lovers, that she loved me or something.

Sure she was cute, funny, talented, caring...and I did find myself with the urge to take her in my arms and protect her from the world...did that mean I felt the same way about her? Ahhh that stupid knight, why did he have to leave already when I still had things to ask him!

But...maybe I did...like her...

"You, come with me." I said once I had found her, grabbing her arm and dragging her off towards the balcony. Once there, I turned to see her cute, confused face.

"What is it Lass?" She asked.

Well, I guess here goes nothing... "You said you like me, right?" At my question her face went red, but she didn't say anything. "Well, I...er...I..." Ugh, this is harder then I thought it would be. Why is it so hard just to say a few simple words? Was it that I was afraid of rejection or something? No, it couldn't be that, she had already said it first. Then what was it? I sure don't know, but I had to say it. "I...um,er..." Ahhhh c'mon just spit it out already! "Ilikeyoutoo"

She blinked, still confused. "What? Speak slower, will you? I couldn't understand what you said."

Ahhhh! Stupid nerves or whatever it is...I took a deep breath, forcing myself to speak slowly. "I like you too" I could feel my face growing warm and with that I let go of her arm and began to make my exit.

But I was stopped halfway there as she latched her arms around my waist. "Hey, don't just say that and run off! It's against the rules!" She sounded more happy then annoyed though. "Anyways, now you are gonna come and join us, right? You can't just hide off somewhere by yourself all day! C'mon, it'll be fun!" With that she grabbed my arm and dragged me off to go have 'fun'. But, since it was with her, I found that I really didn't mind.

* * *

Well I hope you liked it, and yes, there are longer one shots then this in the works, don't worry ;P Anyways, I tried a little bit of a different 1st person style here, tried for more of sort of a direct thought sort of thing. I know when I go places I don't describe to myself what the place looks like. Don't expect this style too much though. I'll be using normal 1st person in the next chapter of OHTC (which chapter two is roughly half done by this point, but I just had to write this one down)

See ya next time,

-Xire


	7. Of Work Camps

And another of these have been completed! Oh yay. This is actually one of the ones that has been sitting unfinished on my compy the longest XD There's one that's been sitting on there even longer, being the first one of these that I started writing, but for now my inspiration had kinda left me for that one :/

Anywho, enjoy!

Oh wait, before I forget again, eventually in this it will be stated that there are nine people in the chase. Now I KNOW there are really eleven (as of NAGC getting Dio last week) but since I don't have him or Mari, they won't be counted or showing up till I do managed to get them on my acc. I'm strange, I know ;) I'll get Dio most likely sooner then Mari as I'm much closer to getting him. (Unless I get a sudden outburst of cash). I think I still need at least 4-5 lvs at the least, 10 at most before I try the last two dungeons on Xenia. (Forest of Life, 60someodd natals, eesh)

* * *

**Of Work Camps  
**

It wasn't like him to be missing like he was. A few hours sure, but not a day. She had looked everywhere she could think of in the castle, had asked everyone if they had seen him. All of his usual hiding places completely vacant. She had even branched out to the village nearby, but there was still no trace of the white haired thief. As time went by and he didn't show up, she became increasingly worried.

Lass was missing, and Arme was going to get to the bottom of why.

/

It wasn't the best place to be, not in the slightest. The conditions were harsh, forced to work out in the hot sun all day with little or not at all breaks, accompanied by a next to nothing supply of water. The work was hard and brutal, forced to work on the building of some lord or others new abode. They slept in crudely foraged huts, laying on the floor with practically non-existent blankets, the hard wood serving as the bed and devoid of any sort of pillow. They worked from dusk till dawn, except when they worked even later because the taskmaster felt like they hadn't worked hard enough during the day. This happened several times a week, and was more of a regular occurrence and something to be expected. The compound they worked within was surrounded all the way around by four, fifty feet high walls.

The taskmaster himself was a broad shouldered, unfeeling, heartless jerk who wasn't afraid to use the whip attached to his belt. He surveyed the workers with cold, almost pitch black eyes that seemed eternally locked into a glare. His face in general seemed unable to present any other expression other then malice, and he did not take kindly to anyone acting out. This being demonstrated almost frequently thanks to a young white haired boy that had joined the workers a scant few weeks ago.

"Really boy, how many times do I have to tell you that there is simply no escaping from here?" The taskmaster said with a slight sneer as he paced back a forth in front of the boy. "And this is not the only offense you have. Sources tell me that you have also been stealing food from my own private stores and slacking off in your work." He stopped his pacing and faced the boy, putting his face mere inches away from his captive. "What do you have to say for yourself before I give out your punishment? Admit your wrong doings and I might just go easy on you."

The boy himself was being restrained by two big and burly strongmen, both holding an arm in an iron grip. The boy was only wearing a ragged pair of pants, and was glaring at the taskmaster, unwilling to show any sign of giving in. As such, in response to the question asked, he just spit in the man's face.

As a result of this, the boy earned himself a punch in gut from one of the strongmen. "Why you little brat!" The Taskmaster yelled, pulling back and hurriedly wiping his face dry. "How dare you!"

"Heh, so how do you like your answer?" The boy asked, breathing a bit heavily from the blow he had received. Despite this, a slight smirk rested on his face. "It's what you deserve, after all." That earned him another blow, causing him to double over as much as one could when being held up by the arms.

"Tie him up for three days with no food or water and make sure that the others know not to give him any. Tell them that any contact with this little ingrate will result in severe punishment." Taskmaster said, his back to the boy now. At the order the boy was dragged off by the strongmen, but not without some struggling.

The post where the boy was to be tied sat in the direct middle of the place, where all could easily witness his punishment. While one of the strongman held the boy in place, the other tied the boy's arms above his head, one end of the rope binding his hands together, with the other end attached to a metal loop that was protruding from the post.

One of the strongmen grabbed one of the boy's cat ears, pulling him closer, causing the boy to wince a bit. "Just be glad that you're the master's favorite or you'd be meeting a fate far worse then this." The man said quietly, almost in a menacing sort of way.

"Ya well your master can just suck on this!" The boy replied, jumping up slightly and kicking the man in chest and sending him flying a short distance. The response to this was a square punch to the boy's jaw by the other strongman.

"You should learn to respect your superiors." He growled out.

"Ya, well maybe I will if I ever meet one." The boy said, spitting out some blood.

"Why you cocky little brat!" Another punch, this time to the ribs, and the boy had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. He wouldn't be surprised if the impact point was severely bruised, if not having the bone broken there. The man was about to take another swing at the boy, but the taskmaster called. So with that he was left alone with only his thoughts to keep him company.

The three days went painfully slow, and at one point it seemed to be like it would never end. Despite what some might have thought (or even hoped) would happen, the boy never showed any signs of breaking, never begged for food or to be let go, despite the fact that he could easily see the other workers eating away. He just stood there, a defiant glare never leaving his face, silent as the wind, despite the fact that when night came, every time he seemed to be about to fall asleep, it was made sure that something would always wake him up.

When it came time for him to be set free, sometime just before night began, two of the workers were ordered to do the task. Once the rope was no longer holding the boy up, his legs gave out and he fell to his knees, proving just how weak he truly was at this point. He was then ordered to be taken to the worker's sleeping area and deposited there. He laid on the floor in the building, eyes closed, breathing heavily and finally letting the facade drop to be replaced by a very tired expression. He would've fallen asleep, relishing the shade, but a nudge to his arm caused him to stir.

"Kid, ya still alive in there?" Said an older, male voice with a heavy accent from somewhere nearby.

The boy slowly opened his eyes and looked to left where the voice had come from. "What do you want?" He asked in a tired manor. The man standing there looked to be at least a few decades older then the boy, with very short, ragged brown hair.

The man sat next to the boy before answering. "Came ta check on ya, kid. That an'," he reached into his jacket and into a hidden pocket to pull out a small canteen and a crudely wrapped up napkin, "ta give ya this. Been savin' scraps of food fer when ya got released. Figured ya'd need it somethin' fierce." He set the items down before helping the boy to sit.

"You didn't have to, Raoul. You should be concentrating on getting yourself enough to eat." The boy protested in that same tired voice.

"Naw, I make out jus' fine, don' ya worry abou' me." Raoul said, placing the canteen in the boy's hand. "Now drink. Gotta preserve th' younger generation, ya?" The boy sighed but relented, drinking the water held in the canteen a bit greedily, some of the liquid spilling down from the corner of his mouth. "There ya go, tha's a good boy. Now fer th' food." He undid the napkin to reveal a hand full of small biscuits inside. He held one out to the boy, who took it after placing the canteen on the floor. "Ya know kid, I don' see why ya have ta be so rebellious all th' time. It's not s'bad here."

"I didn't choose to come here, that's why." The boy grumbled a bit, taking a bite of the biscuit.

"Nobody ever has, but not like there's anywhere fer us ta go. Ya best ta stop those 'scape attempts fer good."

"Except I _do _ have some place to go. I have someplace to live where the work is much better then this!" The boy exclaimed, slightly exasperated. "Besides," he began again, now speaking almost too quiet to hear, "I'm not going to be be able to make up for things stuck here."

"Ya know kid, ya did never mention where ya came from, or what ya were doin' before ya came. Ya say ya were still workin' but ya work here or ya work there, work is work ya?" Raoul stated.

The boy shook his head. "Hardly." He muttered. "This doesn't even begin to compare to the line of work I'm used to. This is for some stupid selfish lord while what I and the others do is for the good of the world, making sure it's not taken over by evil."

"Others? Ya mean there is more of ya?"

The boy nodded. "There's nine of us in total."

"It's too bad ya're stuck in here, but I ain't seen nobody escape with life still intact."

"Well then, I plan to be the first. They're no match for me."

"Which is why ya got yaself caught in th' firs' place, init?"

"Hey, that was just foul play and that guy came out of no where!"

Raoul laughed a bit and ruffled the boy's hair. "O'course kid." He glanced outside. "Gettin' late, better hit the hay an' prepare fer a new day." He said before moving to his own designated spot in the room and laying down. "G'night kid." The boy sighed, finishing up the last of the biscuits before following suit in laying down himself. Sleep came easily to his exhausted body, something he was grateful for. He didn't need another night staying up thinking.

The next morning came far too quickly in his opinion. "Time ta get up kid, work time." Raoul said as he shook the boy awake.

"Ugh, I'll never complain about early morning missions again..." The boy muttered as he sat up, one hand holding the side of his head. If he could've, he would've just laid there all day, trying to recover from the harsh past three days, but no, that wouldn't have gone over very well with the taskmaster. He had seen it happen before; when someone refused to come out and work, insisting that they get a little more rest. When that happened, the taskmaster would send in the strongmen to go and drag the reluctant person out and force them to work. It wasn't much of a pretty sight and the boy had no desire to go through it himself.

"Ya know I think we're gonna be gettin' a new worker taday. I could'a sworn I heard th' truck pullin' in." Raoul said as they were leaving the building.

"So another poor soul is forced to join us. I pity them." The boy said darkly.

"Now c'mon kid, no need ta be s'gloomy."

"Speak for your-Arme!" The boy exclaimed, watching as a familiar purple haired girl was being led from the back of the truck. He hurried over to her, placing a hand over her mouth before she could say something that would get her in trouble like she had been seemingly about to do. "Thank you for delivering her, I'll be taking her for now." He said to the strongman that had led Arme from the truck. "And don't worry, I'll be sure she's taught the ropes." The man watched the boy for a moment, before leaving to put the truck away. After the man was clearly out of earshot, the boy turned his attention back to the mage, removing his hand from her mouth. He was about to say something, but was abruptly cut off.

"Lass how dare you disappear like that!" Arme said, smacking the boy in the head, clearly angry. But just like that, her mood switched and she hugged him tightly. "I was worried about you." She said softly.

"Eheh, sorry about that. Although you know it's not like I chose to be here in the first place." Lass said, sighing a bit, then wincing as the action had caused a twinge of pain to go through his injured side.

Arme noticed and pulled back a bit, examining the thief. His tail was matted and dirty, and it looked closer to black in color because of all the dirt then it's usual white color. His other cat feature hadn't escaped injury either. The thief's right ear looked like something had clipped it, as a portion of the ear was missing on the side. She frowned as she looked him over more, noticing another wound. She gingerly touched the large, dark colored patch of skin on Lass' left side. "What happened to you?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Er, well let's just say that defiance isn't very well accepted here." Lass replied.

"What are you talking about? And what kind of place is this, anyway? Those jerks even stole my war staff!"

"Kid, best we be gettin' ta work leas' ya wanna get th' whip." Raoul's voice broke in.

"The whip? Lass what does he mean?" Arme asked.

Lass took the mage's hand and began to lead her to were the main work took place. "I'll explain on the way." He said.

/

"What?" Arme exclaimed after Lass had explained to her what exactly the 'work' was. "Why do I have to build some stupid lord's mansion? I'm a Chaser and I shouldn't have to be forced to do these things! I've got better things to do!" She said this as she stomped her foot on the ground.

Lass sighed. "That's just the way this place works, Arme."

"That's just not fair! I didn't even ask to come here!"

"Neither did I. But I've learned that everyone is here because of either trumped up charges or being homeless."

"You stole something again, didn't you?"

"I didn't steal anything!...this time." Lass protested. "They dragged me here on account of destruction of public property."

Arme frowned. "That doesn't sound like you."

"It's a trumped up charge." Lass said, shaking his head. "I was on my way back to the castle from my mission, but in one of the villages this guy just comes out of completely nowhere and shoves me rather roughly into a nearby stall. Of course it broke a bit from impact, and some other guy calling himself 'sheriff' who had been there the entire time, comes and tells me that he's going to have to 'take me in' for blatant destruction of public property. Which is total bull, if you ask me."

"I'm just surprised you went with him." Arme said.

"Well I certainly didn't go _willingly. _I was about to just ignore the guy and leave, but one of his goons came out of no where and knocked me out from behind. The next I woke up I was here." Lass stated.

"Well fine, but we can't just stay here, we have to find a way out!" The mage exclaimed.

Lass just shook his head. "What do you think I've been trying to do for the past few weeks?"

"Hey, you two over there! Less chatting and more working!" The taskmaster yelled. His whip flew towards Arme, causing the mage to flinch. But before it make contact, Lass stepped in the way and held out an arm, causing the offending weapon to become wrapped around his arm.

Lass grabbed the whip and yanked on it, causing the taskmaster to lose his balance and fall over, letting go of the whip in the process. "You harm her and I swear you'll rue the day that you were born." The thief said menacingly, detaching the whip from his arm.

The taskmaster growled as he stood up motioning for his strongmen guards to approach. "Really boy, do you just never learn?" He said harshly. "Guards, get him!" The strongmen complied, starting to rush towards Lass, fully intent on taking him hostage.

The thief had other plans, however. He took of running away from his would be attackers, fully intent on going to one of the few effective hiding spots that he knew of in this place until the chase was given up and the offense forgotten. Unfortunately, he still wasn't recovered from the harsh past few days and didn't make it very far before his legs gave out and he fell to the ground. Because of this, the strongmen reached him easily and each took one of Lass' arms and roughly pulled him up.

"Let him go!" Arme yelled, coming up and futilely trying to pry one of the hands holding Lass off.

"Heh heh, funny girl." One of the strongmen laughed, easily pushing the mage away and to the ground.

Arme was about to get up and do something that would most likely get her into trouble, but Raoul came and stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder. "Do 'im no good if yer in trouble yerself."He said quietly to the mage. She pouted, but didn't move to do anything else.

The strongmen then dragged Lass off to where the taskmaster was waiting some feet away. "You still asking for more, boy?" He asked once close enough for the thief to hear. He didn't wait for an answer. "Well let's see, what am I in the mood for today?" He had a mock thoughtful look on his face. "Ah yes, I know just the thing." A smirk was now quite plainly on his face.

Lass was now once again tied to the post, only this time he was facing it, back to the taskmaster. But that was the intention, as, after all, the thief's back was exactly what the taskmaster wanted to get to. He was holding his whip in his hand, one that had small spikes all over it, and was currently using it to lash out at the unprotected boy's back. One lash for every crime it had been deemed by the taskmaster that Lass had done. And over the past few weeks that had amounted to quite a few.

Everyone in the compound had been invited to watch, especially the other workers, so that they may watch a rule breaker "get what he deserves." As the number of lashes got up there, Lass hadn't made a single sound but it was not hard to tell that it was becoming increasingly hard to stay silent, for he had his eyes shut tight and his teeth clenched. As such, Raoul had to keep a firm grasp on Arme's shoulder to keep her from running up and doing something foolhardy. After all, she was pretty much defenseless without her staff.

After what seemed like an eternity to both Arme and Lass, the taskmaster finally stopped, slightly disappointed that the boy hadn't made a sound. As such he ordered that Lass not be untied until the work day was over, and once again not to give him any food or drink. After giving that order, he demanded that everyone get back to work before stalking off, leaving Lass there, bleeding and breathing heavily.

When it was announced that the workers were allowed to quite some few hours after night fall, Arme was the first to rush up to where the thief was tied. "Lass!" She exclaimed as she came up, Raoul not too far behind her. When close enough, the mage became worried as the thief' s had was bowed and his eyes were closed. "Lass?" She asked, gently putting a hand on the thief's cheek.

His eyes opened and he slowly looked over at the mage, a small smile making it's way onto his face. "Ah, Arme," he said weakly, almost to soft to hear, "is it over?"

Arme nodded. "Yes, the day is over, we can let you down now." She turned to Raoul, who was tall enough to reach up and undo Lass' binds. Once his his support was gone, he began to collapse, completely unable to support his own weight. Before he could hit the ground, though, Raoul was there to catch him and carry him back to where the workers slept. Once there, he gently set Lass down, trying to be mindful of the thief's newest wounds.

"I swear I'm gonna kill that guy when next I get my hands on him..." Lass muttered in an exhausted tone, laying on his good side.

"Of course you will." Arme said, reaching into one of her pockets and pulling out a few rags and a small bottle of clear liquid.

"Wha' do ya got there, miss?" Raoul asked curiously, eying the items the mage had produced.

"Just some things to take care of Lass' back. I always carry them with me, just in case." She poured some of the liquid onto one of the rags before asking, "can you help him sit up so I can treat him?"

Raoul nodded and pulled Lass up into a sitting position, with only a mild muttered protest from the thief, as he was mostly unconscious. But that wouldn't last long, for as soon as Arme touched the cloth to his back he gave a small cry as the fresh wave of pain sent him jerking into full consciousness.

"Arme that hurts..." He complained.

"Well sorry but I'm not about to leave your back untended to." Arme said, wiping the cloth over Lass' back, causing said thief to flinch.

"Here kid, meybe this'll help get yer mind offa it." Raoul said, taken out the now refilled canteen and another batch of food wrapped in the same cloth from before. Lass took the canteen and downed it's contents quickly.

"We need a plan." He muttered, taking one of the biscuits.

"You're in no condition to fight." Arme said.

"Don't remind me." Lass said bitterly as roughly took a bite of the food in his hand.

Arme sighed. "If only I had my War Staff, then I could send a signal to the others. Because I don't think I could fend them off all by myself."

"I don't even know where they put our weapons though." Lass said.

"I do." Raoul said suddenly and the pair looked at him. "I saw where they pu' yer weapons when ya firs' came here kid. I 'spec tha' they woulda pu' th' miss' staff there too."

"Alright then." Lass said, beginning to try and stand up. "You just show me where it is, and I'll go and take them back." Once again he didn't get very far, as before he was even standing up fully he fell right back down.

"You're not going anywhere, buster." Arme said.

"But how else are we going to get our weapons?" Lass asked.

"Don' ya worry abou' tha' kid." Raoul said, smiling confidently. "Ol' Raoul here ain' no stranger ta sneakin' 'round."

And with that it was settled. While Arme finished tending to Lass' back, Raoul would sneak off and retrieve the weapons. By the time he came back, the mage was finished and the thief was sound asleep on the floor.

"'ere ya go, miss." Raoul said as he handed Arme her staff. He held up Lass' Nodachi. "An' I figured this probly 'longs ta th' kid."

Arme nodded at the statement. "Why do you call me 'miss'? My name is Arme."

"Tha's wha' ya are, ya?" Raoul answered. "'sides," he said, sitting down, "th' kid seems ta think highly of ya. Anyone friend of 'is is a friend 'o mine an' deserves respectin'. I call ya accordinly."

Arme giggle slightly. "Is that why you call Lass 'kid'?"

"Exacly. Is wha' 'e is. Yer a miss an' 'e's a kid."

"Not sir?"

"Naw, 'e's not old 'nough fer tha'. Technicly, yer a kid too miss, bu' it'd be confunin' if I called ya both kid!" Raoul said, laughing.

/

Arme woke early the next morning so she could sneak out and set of the signal to alert the other Chasers as to her position. Once outside the shack, she held up her staff high into the air and muttered a single chant, which caused the tip of the staff to glow briefly for a moment before the glowing spear of golden light rose high into the air. As it rose in the sky, it became steadily bigger, reaching the size of a large boulder before stopping well about the compound. It shone like a beacon, one for all to see and hard to miss. Arme smiled happily to herself before returning to the shack and sitting down next to the still sleeping Lass.

"Soon," She whispered to his sleeping form, gently rubbing one of his ears, "soon I'll get you out of here."

By the time the workers were supposed to be called to get to work, a loud commotion was heard outside, interrupting the taskmaster's normal rude wake up call. The disturbance being that the front gates had been broken open. No wait, broken isn't quite a strong enough word. What I should say is, that the front gates had been blasted open, with what little remained being small splinters that now littered the ground. Through the now very open entrance came seven people. Ok more like seven people charged through, all carrying varying weapons of some sort. Most of them went and took out the strongmen to prevent any interference, while the rest went to go 'talk' with the taskmaster.

At the sound of the commotion, all of the workers were startled awake, all except for two. Arme, who was already awake, and Lass, who was too exhausted to be waking up to anything short of the world ending. Everyone in the shack went outside or to the windows to see what could be going on. Arme herself stood up from her sitting place next to Lass and went to the entrance of the shack. And, lo and behold, she saw the rest of the Chase about the grounds, most of them just finishing in knocking out the strongmen. From the group of chasers, the blue haired knight of the group approached Arme.

"We came as fast as we could when we saw your signal." Ronan said as he approached the mage. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Arme nodded. "I'm fine, don't worry. I did find Lass though," she looked back inside the shack, "he's sleeping in there."

"That's good. Although I'd imagine something happened to him if he is still asleep."

"He should be fine though, he's just pretty exhausted." She turned to go inside. "I'm gonna need your help carrying him though."

"This does not look like an adequate sleeping area, if you ask me." Ronan stated once inside the shack. "And something tells me that this isn't just one of those odd places that Lass likes to naps in, is it?"

Arme nodded. "This place is horrible. They force people to work wither they like it or not, there's hardly any food, practically no breaks, you work till late night and just look where we're forced to sleep!" she exclaimed.

Ronan shook his head as he went over to the still sleeping Lass to pick him up. At the sight of the thief, he turned back to Arme. "What exactly happened to him?" He asked.

"Most of them are from escape attempts, apparently." Arme answered. She then frowned. "But his back is because he was trying to protect me from the stupid taskmaster."

The knight frowned as he picked the thief up, who only gave a slight mumbled protest at the movement but didn't actually wake up.

/

It didn't actually seem to take very long to get everything straightened out set right with the place, especially with Sieghart around, who didn't seem to have any tolerance for the kind of place the taskmaster seemed to be running. You could practically see the rage coming off of the immortal, something which seemed to scare the taskmaster into submission without having to say anything. "Just don't hurt me!" Was what they got out of him before they guy threw himself to the ground, covering his head with his arms.

Considering that half of the workers were those that were homeless, it was decided that the compound would be transformed into a place of honest work, with a much more decent and humane work schedule. The shack was also to be transformed into a much more suitable living area.

Once back at the castle, Lass' back was finally more properly treated and bandaged, along with his tail being washed and cared for (due to a very insistent Arme that it not wait), before being laid down in his room, on his own bed.

It wasn't until the next day and then some until the the thief finally woke up, mostly due to hunger. He stirred slightly before opening his eyes slowly, in almost disbelief when he saw that he was in his room at the castle. He would've curled back under his covers if it weren't for his stomach reminding him almost painfully that it needed to be fed. He sighed, and sat up slowly, stretching. He didn't even get off his bed as he was suddenly hugged by a familiar purple haired mage.

"Lass! You're awake!" She said happily. "I was starting to wonder if you'd sleep forever!"

"Oh c'mon, I couldn't have been asleep that long. I'm actually surprised to find that we're back at the castle. I would've thought I'd have woken up for that." Lass said.

"You were asleep by my count one and a half days. And yes, you did sleep though when the others came to get us." Arme replied, nodding.

"Ok ok so I was tired, give me a break. Although I'd be trying to get more sleep if it weren't for being so hungry." The thief stated.

Arme giggled slightly and stood up, holding out a hand. "Alright let's go get you some good food then."

Lass to the offered hand and they both went off to the kitchens to get the deprived boy something to eat.

* * *

And there you have it. This is actually the longest chappie for anything I think I written in a while...oh well. Long is good, right?

Oh and a funny fact: you know how I said I had 15 unfinished one shots sitting on my compy a few chaps ago? Well I did a recount after finishing this one and you would think that the number would've gone down, wouldn't you? Well it didn't. I actually went up, and it's now 17! XD Although one of them may or may not turn into more of a full blown story like OHTC, but I haven't decided that yet. At this point I guess that one could go either way. But if it did turn into a full separate story, I'd wait till OHTC is done. There's no way I could handle doing four stories at once. I can barely handle three as it is. If you are wondering what the 3rd fic I'm doing right now it's not in the GC fandom, it's over in Knight Rider :3

Well see you people next time,

-Xire


	8. Survival is Not an Option

He came to her grave often, would spend countless hours there. He would sit in front of her grave and talk to it, as if he was speaking to her. He wasn't seen by anyone; he made sure of it. He couldn't bear to be seen. Especially by those of the others. He felt it was his fault; he should've been able to save her, to protect her. It should've been him instead.

A week like this went by, and anyone that did manage to catch a glimpse of him probably wouldn't have recognized him anyway. He was pale and disheveled, his clothes dirty and torn. His hair was matted and dirty, so much so that it now looked more of a muddy brown color instead of white.

He sat there in front of her grave gun in hand and a heartbroken smile on his face. He placed the weapon to his head. "I'll be with you soon, love. Sorry for making you wait so long." And fired.


	9. Shuffle Challenge

Ok here's shuffle challenge I did when I was bored: Place your Ipod (any other music source works fine as well) on shuffle for 10 songs, and write a short story for each song as it plays. No pausing the song to finish up, just end as quickly as you can when the song's over and get writing your next story!

**Shuffle Challenge**

1 If Tomorrow Never Comes- Ronan Keating

Lass stood there, leaning against the wall inside of Arme's room, watching the mage in her sleep. She seemed peaceful, and all the more cute when she slept. He was about to leave but then he began to wondered;

_if tomorrow never comes,_

_will she know how much I loved her?_

_did I try in every way to show her she's my only one?_

_and if my time were through she must face this would without me_

_is the love I gave her in the past enough to last if tomorrow never comes?_

_2 _If I Don't Tell You Now- Ronan Keating

How had he gotten himself into this? Ronan wondered to himself. Oh ya, Amy. He wouldn't be surprise if Arme and Lass had something to do with it to. So he put the mike to his mouth an began to sing.

_If I don't tell you now_

_I may never get the chance again _

_to tell you that I need you _

_tell you what I'm feeling_

_and if I don't say the words_

_how will you what's in my heart_

_if I don't tell you now_

_maybe I'm only going to make a mistake_

_and maybe my heart might break_

_how will you know your inside my soul_

_oh it's driving me crazy_

_cuz your the world to me_

_Im so afraid to say the way I feel_

_if I don't tell you now_

_I may never get the chance again _

_to tell you that I need you _

_tell you what I'm feeling_

_if I don't say the worlds_

_how will you know if I don't tell you now._

As the song ended he was not expecting to be tackled by a very teary eyed Elesis.

3 How Far We've Come- Matchbox Twenty

_Twenty years after the chase has ended_

Lass stood atop a hill, starting out at the castle that was some distance away from it. It had been some years since the chase had ended, and everyone had moved on to their own separate lives. He had, of course moved in with Arme, and shortly later getting marrried to his love. A few days ago, though, they had received a letter from knight master stating about a reuinion of sorts, to see how everyone was fairing.

"Lass I thought I told you to wait for me!" Arme yelled from behind him.

4 Under The Weather- KT Tunstall

The rain was poring outside, and Lass had just returned to the castle, soping wet. He didn't really feel all that grand at the moment, stupid rain. He had been for quite awhile and the rain had been going for the past three days, of which he had had to travel on.

"Lass!" Something hugged him from behind.

A cough.

"Ah, hi arme. It's good to see you again." Another cough.

The mage frown. "You're sick aren't you?"

"What ever gave you that idea?"

"Well besides the coughing, both your tail and ears are drooping and you look positivly exhausted."

5 Over and Over- Three Days Grace

The red haired knight was highly engergetic, always rushing into things, never seeming to take a break. So it almost seemed pointless to chase her, but he couldn't help it, he liked her too much.

_Why do I do this?_

_over and over _

_I fall for you_

_I try not to..._

Eventually perhaps so would slow down enough to notice him. But there never seems to be any change.

_feels like everyday stays the same_

_it's dragging me down and I can't get away_

_so Here I go again chasing you down again _

_why do I do this?_

_over and over _

_you don't even try_

_so many thoughts I cant get out of my head_

_I try to live with out you but everytime I do I feel dead_

_I know what's best for me but I want you instead_

It wasnt even that healthy perhaps, after all she was quite the tom boy, what with her punches when joking around, his health would probly be better with out his strange addiction, but he couldn't seem to help it.

6 You Are Loved (aka Don't Give Up)- Josh Groban

"'Don't give up it's just the weight of the world' oh like the weight of the _world_ is suppoed to be some sort of small thing or something?" Lass asked sarcastically, sitting at the kitchen table with arme, one hand resting on his cheek. "'it's just the hurt that you feel?' I think this book is a bit out of it."

Arme laughed. "Oh come on if you read the whole thing it can be really sweet. I mean, who doesn't want to be told that they're loved?"

Lass raised an eyebrow. "I can tell youp've read this before."

The mage smiled. "Many"

7 Right Back Where We Started From- Cleopatra

"You know, I still remember when I first met you."

"Who could forget? After all I was possessed."

"No no I mean you, AFTER you were no longer under that witches control. You were so cute and confused!"

"Losing your memory can do that to you, you know."

"I actually think it was then that I might of started to fall in love with you."

"Oh really?"

8 Monster- Meg Edia

He was always quiet, and yet she could see it in his eyes; that silent pled to be cared for, as no one else had seemed to bother before. Most weren't comfortable around him, seeing as he had been possesed, almost like they thought him to be some sort of monster. But she didn't think he was, he was just a boy he needed to be cared for and taken out of his shell.

9 World- Five For Fighting

"So what is it?" Lass asked.

"I'm not sure, I found on the kitchen table this morning." Ronan replied, shrugging.

The box was still on said table, sitting there, seemingly innocent.

"A box full of wishes; what kind of world will you create?" Lass read aloud from the label written on the top of the box.

"Be careful what you wish for- history starts as soon as you open this."

"What the heck?" Lass muttered, poking the box slightly. "I bet it's a prank or something. It has to be."

10 A Thousand Miles- Vanessa Carlton

Lass was walking down the streets, going through the market, on her way home. It had been a while since Arme's dissapearence and he and the other had searched for her, him probly the hardest of all. But the mage was no where to be found. He wished he could see her again, he do anything for it. He walk any distance if he could just hold her in his arms once more.

He saw a flash of purple in crowd that had long ago become faceless to him, and instantly his head snapped to where he had seen the flash, his ears perking up. But no, it was just a poster set out to advertise something. He looked back at the ground, ears drooping, trying to hold back the tears.

_If I could just hold you, tonight..._

_

* * *

_On the second one, I just had to make it Ronan, as it seemed to fit to me, especially since the guy's name that sings it is named Ronan. I just couldn't resist XD

I'll eventually take these and edit them into longer, more full one-shots, and actually edit them, as this was done with very little editing. Hey, that's that happens when you are pressed for time. About the only editing that did happen is what was automatically corrected by open office (the word processor I use. Very much like word, only this is completely free! X3) When I do edit them they'll have their own chapter as they will be longer and with added stuffs.

-Xire


	10. Burden

**Burden**

To be immortal; it's what people dream about. They think that it would be a grand thing to have, to live forever, to be unable to die, regardless of how injured you may be. I used to think that too, at one point in time. But now I've realized something; immortality is not a gift, but a curse. A burden that at times feels impossible to bear. To live forever is a very lonely thing; for no matter what you do, eventually everything that you care about will some day die. Mortals can only live for so long, after all. Most people would believe me lucky, that it was a gift from the gods for all the good that I did. That thinking couldn't be more wrong. In fact, what I am is not a gift, and couldn't be any farther from the truth. The gods saw me as someone vary valuable due to my strength and thus deemed that it would be bad if I should die. So they made me immortal, all for their own selfish desires. They want me for my strength, my stamina, to do what they wish of me. I am to walk this land for eternity, condemned to a cruel fate.

At first, it was fun, knowing that you were practically invincible. But the thrill of it started to wear off, especially after the death of my first love. She died of old age, and it was then that the realization of my situation finally struck. Never dying, it meant that I would never leave this would, never to be reunited with the ones that I loved. That realization, if I had been able to, would've killed me. In one sense, it did kill me, but not in the physical sense. Inside, my heart died. I swore to myself that I would never get close to anyone ever again, as it would only lead to heartbreak. So I abandoned my old life, to go into a life more secluded, the only person to follow me to be my butler, one who almost seemed to have the same curse I did.

In my immortality, I could cause a lot of harm, so I desire. Take out all my sorrow on those that were mortal, those with the ability to die. But that would take insanity, and a disregard for any sort of conscious. But, I just didn't have that sort of thing in me, I couldn't do it. Irking as it my be, the gods probably knew that at the time of bestowing upon me my curse.

It's been six hundred years since that day, and, per the god's wishes, I have joined the group Grand Chase to help them in their quest to save the world. I appear cocky to them, and I don't deny that I am that way, at least a little. After all, when you know that nothing to can kill you, it's hard not to become that way. I don't even mind that they are annoyed by the way that I act; in fact, you could even say that I do it on purpose, to prevent anyone from becoming to close to me. After all, the whole lot of them will die eventually, so there's no point getting to know the lot of them.

Although the fact that the eldest of them is a mere nineteen and the youngest at fourteen, is a bit depressing. I don't doubt their strength, but that fact that most of them are so young reminds me what the gods are like. They don't care the age, they will use whom ever they please to achieve their goals.

The gods are cruel.

* * *

It's a miracle, ne? I actually wrote a complete (although short) one shot that wasn't in the perspective of either Arme, Lass or Ronan XD This actually came to me when I was thinking of Sieghart in OHTC, and I just had to write it down. Poor Sieghart.

On another note, at the moment I'm actually working on a little drawing of what I imagine the inside of the GC castle to be like. It's not quite finished yet, I still have a few more places to draw in. Once I finish it I'll probly upload it to photo bucket or something. Probly DA too. I'll post the link when I do either in the next chapter of this or OHTC, whichever comes first.

Till next time,

Xire


	11. Let's See If He Can Fly! :D

OK before you read this you need to keep two things in mind or you might get a little lost: One, you know how Elesis' 2nd job grab attack is where she basically stabs her opponent and throws them? And second that remember that some accessories give you wings. Keep those two facts in mind and you should be fine :)

* * *

**Let's See if He Can Fly!**

Elesis: Hey look Ronan has wings! I wonder if he can fly? Hmmm Let's find out! :D *takes spear and rushes at Ronan*

Ronan: *spots Elesis running at him* What are you-*Elesis performs her grab attack and Ronan goes flying* Ahhhhh!

Unfortunately this is the gorgos pvp map so, since Ronan can't really fly, he has a long way to fall.

Elesis:Aw. *is disappointed*

Note: No Ronan's were harmed in the making of this.

*camera moves to the corner where Ronan can be seen barely conscious, bandaged and bruised with multiple broken bones.*

* * *

Yes I know it's epically short but this was something that my sis came up with and was too good not to be shared.

Anywho this was just a quick break from typing the next chapter of OHTC. It's almost finished, and should be up later tonight or tomorrow (Wednesday). Depends if I get distracted again lol

-Xire


	12. A Bit of a Rable

This is just something random I had going though my head that I thought I might as well right down. That's how some of these things start; with one line or phrase.

Oh and before I forget like I did with the last chapter of OHTC, here are the links to my depictions of what I imagine the GC castle to be like on the inside if anyone is interested.

Insides of random rooms (without the spaces of course): http : / s688 . photobucket .com/albums/vv244/Armayra/The%20Castle/

Map of the Castle's Interior: http : / rathvamp ./#/d331omd This one is uploaded somewhere else 'cuz photobucket refused to upload it the right size. If you hit download on this one you should get the right size.

Oh joy you get to see my handwriting : / I guess that's what I get for doing them on paper. I guess I could've put typed text on using photoshop, but I was lazy XD

* * *

The world is anything but completely happy, especially considering there always seems to be an attack from something or other. There always seems to be something that wants to either destroy the world or over take it. There are those in the world that would do anything to overtake it, not caring the method. Mind control and possession being a few of them.

Sometimes I wish that my possession had never happened. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if it hadn't happened. I probably wouldn't have met any of the chase, and if I did met any of them, I doubt that I would've formed the same kind've friendships that I had. I would've been your common thief, nothing special about me. I certainly wouldn't have had certain cat parts, thought I'm not sure if that would've been a good thing or not. Having the ears of a cat granted me the hearing of one. Useful? Quite.

I wouldn't have met Arme, and I don't think I like the sound of that. So perhaps the witch had done me a small favor, however unintentionally, in that possession.

* * *

-Xire


	13. Monster

Oh look, an actual chapter of this haha.

Ok anyone remember a few chapters back when I did that shuffle challenge? Well this is the 8th one extended from more of just a paragraph. Enjoy.

* * *

8 Monster- Meg Edia

He was always quiet, and yet she could see it in his eyes; that silent plea to be cared for, as no one else had seemed to bother before. Most weren't comfortable around him, seeing as he had been possessed, almost like they thought him to be some sort of monster. But she didn't think he was; he was just a boy that needed to be cared for and taken out of his shell.

She could hear it when they went out in the village together. No one liked him, no one trusted him.

"Isn't that girl the mage of the Grand Chase? What's she doing with _him_?"

"He's nothing but a ruthless murderer, now isn't he? He's definitely nowhere near good enough for her."

"Of course. Who would want a Complete Monster like him?"

She always hoped that he wasn't listening. But of course he was; she could see it in the way he would move his head so that his hair was covering his eyes, the way he would clench his fists at his side. At those times she would gently take one of his hands and unclench it before slipping her hand in his, trying for some form of comfort. He wasn't a monster at all; just a sad, lost little boy. It wasn't fair how they treated him, how they made it out to be all his fault. But it wasn't his fault; he had been possessed, with no control of his actions.

Everyone seemed to think that he was supposed to be cold-hearted and ruthless, just because he was quiet and never looked the slightest bit happy, seeming as if there was always nothing short of some sort of scowl on his face. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Once you got him to actually open up more to you he could be very sweet, if not a little awkward.

Getting him to open up in the first place though, is not such an easy task. It never is, when someone is as guarded as he. It certainly hadn't been such a simple task when she had first attempted it. It had taken her at least a few weeks before he would even begin to comment on whatever random babble she had gotten on that day. The first time it had happened it had been a very short and simple phrase, and it was the only thing he said.

Deep down he could be one of the nicest people you could meet even if he was a little awkward. It made her sad that more people couldn't see that. But they could only see him as what he appeared on the outside plus their own beliefs from what they had heard.

In truth when she had given him the cat ears and tail she knew that if she really wanted to she could find a way to get rid of them, but she didn't want to. It was partially because he looked really cute with them, but mostly because she hoped that it would help the villagers see him the same way she did. She could only hope that with the added features he wouldn't seem so menacing to them.

_I don't want him to be in pain anymore._

* * *

So tada, what did you think? I found it interesting to write.

Till next time,

-Xire


	14. Of Sand

**Of Sand**

Sand, I have always hated sand, it gets absolutely everywhere and is annoying and near impossible to completely clean from somewhere. As soon as you think you've got it cleared away and you're home free, more of the foul stuff is discovered. But now more then ever I have reason to despise sand.

Let me set the scene for you: lots of sand, wind, and water. Add having cat ears to all of that, and you have a recipe for perfect misery.

Let me back up a bit and actually explain what happened, exactly. The whole of the Grand Chase had gone out on a mission to explore some desert that was rumored to have some sort of odd village somewhere in the middle. As the story goes, sometimes the village is there, other times it is not.

But that wasn't the only strange thing going on in the sand pit. It certainty wasn't a normal desert, let me tell you. One second it would be blazing hot, the next torrential rain would poor right before it returned to being hot like it should be, only this time the wind would be blowing. Now normally this would be odd, but not too overly annoying...that is unless you have cat ears.

We were now all back at the castle, after finding out that the rumors were actually false, and the village just turned out to be some sort of hardened dunes. Which meant that all of that had been for nothing. And of course that wasn't annoying at _all. _I was currently trying to dislodge the sand from behind my ears, not that it was going so well. I swear the foul thing was caked behind there, and no matter how much I scratched it never seemed to get dislodged. It was more then uncomfortable, it was practically unbearable. The longer it sat there, the more it itched. And the more it itched, the more it began to drive me insane. I decided to go to the baths, hoping that a good soak would remove the filth.

Who knows how much longer and guess what? The bath had done little to ease the itch, despite the bottom of the bath being littered with sand. I was sitting on my bed in my room after coming from the bath, wearing nothing but a towel, the clothes I had been wearing in a wash pile as they were far too sandy to wear for my liking. Now I had meant to get dressed in some other clothes, but the urge to scratch had been far to distracting, leaving me sitting on my bed.

"Hey Lass have you-Ah!" I blinked and turned to my door to which the voice had come from, but there was no one there. How strange...I could've sworn that was Arme's voice...ah well, perhaps I'm just imagining things...

A few minutes later and a commotion could be heard in the hallway before Arme was pushed into the room, holding a bowl with some sort of liquid with a rag, along with looking frustrated and blushing red as a tomato. Why though?

"Arme?" I asked, confused.

"Uh, um..." She turned to leave, but two pair of hands pushed her back. I wouldn't be surprised if those hands belonged Elesis and Ronan. Those two were always trying to pair Arme and I up. Now, if only they would pair themselves up...

"What's with the bowl?" I asked, hoping to break Arme out of whatever odd state she was in.

"Oh, r-right, the bowl..." She said nervously, looking down at said object. After that she slowly began to make her way closer, and ended up sitting behind me on the bed. "Hold-hold still." She wet the cloth in the bowl and began to wipe my ears with it. It was quite effective, and I could feel the intense itching already beginning to cease. Ah, sweet relief at last. A few minutes passed before Arme spoke again, seemingly having calmed down from whatever it was before. "Lass," she began, "how did your ears become so red? They almost seem rubbed raw..."

Now that she mentioned it they did seem somewhat sore... "Er, scratching?" I supplied, causing the mage to smack me in the head.

"Stupid, you should've just come and gotten me. I could've fixed it right up and then this wouldn't have happened!"

I simply shrugged. "I didn't think of it." That only served to get me another hit in the head, harder this time.

"Stupid! Next time you better think of it!"

"Is that your favorite word today, 'stupid'?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, glancing back at her. She was still blushing from when she had first entered the room, although it dimmed from her whole face being red to it just lining her cheeks. She really was quite cute that way.

"Just for you because you are." She stated to my question. I turned around more so that I could face her, one hand leaned back so as to brace myself. I couldn't help the light smile that came onto my face as the mage's blush grew a little now that I was facing her more.

"You really are cute you know." I stated as I began to lean forward, placing my free hand on her cheek.

"Lass what are you-" But I didn't allow her to finish her sentence as I captured her lips with mine.

I always loved it when I got to kiss Arme; her lips were always so soft and warm. They brought with them a comforting sort of feeling, one which I cherished most on some of my worst nights. For the memory Kaze'Aze has never left me, and I doubt it ever will. But all that ever mattered was that I had Arme now, and she was constant reminder that this was the present and the witch was in the past where she'll stay.

I can still remember the first time she kissed me. It was a quick little thing, and she had had to stand on her toes just to reach up to me. After she had just stood there with a fierce blush on her face, while I myself was left a bit stunned. After all, it's not like I had actually learned about kissing before being possessed and certainly not during.

"Now don't go and get a swelled head now that I've kissed you once!" She had exclaimed before running off.

I had since then of course learned more about kissing, and took it upon myself to kiss her when I felt like it, such as now.

I'm a thief, and at times I can't help but think a lowly one despite what other titles I may have gained while with the Chase; and yet somewhere along the way I did something that allowed me to gain someone such as Arme.

* * *

Yay fanservice! Lass in nothing but a towel~ lol Arme's lucky she gets to see him like that!

lol anyways, I dunno where this came from it just did XD Oh well, I hope you enjoyed it and the fanservice. It was fun to write.

-Xire


	15. Forgotten Memory

**Forgotten Memory**

They were asleep in his bed, Arme curled into Lass as the storm raged outside. She was having a dreamless slumber, while he on the other hand was having a very interesting one that was more vivid and real seeming then a normal dream would.

_He couldn't have been any older then eight when he met her. _

_He had been sitting at the entrance to an alley where he had been told to wait by the lady that had taken him in. The girl that game bounding up to him couldn't have been more than a few years younger than him. She had vibrant purple hair and the biggest smile he'd ever seen, although he wasn't sure if that was saying much. After all, it's not like he saw a lot of smiles where he lived. _

"_What'cha doin?" She asked, sitting next to him. _

"_Waiting." He said simply._

"_For what?" She spoke in a cute, curious tone._

"_For the lady to call for me."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because she told me to wait here."_

"_Oh." There was a pause, then she held out her small hand to him. "I'm Arme! What's your name?" She said brightly. Her smiled seemed to light up her whole face._

_The boy didn't answer as he didn't know what to tell her. He had always been called boy by the lady so... "Well, the lady calls me 'boy'..." _

_The girl that had said she was called Arme giggled. "That's what you are, silly! It's not your name!"_

_He frowned. So that wasn't it? "Then, uh, I don't really know what to tell you."_

_'Arme' frowned and threw her small arms around him. "That's terrible!" As quickly as she had hugged him, she let go, her smile returning. "Then I'll just have to come up with something to call you!" She looked at him for a moment, before declaring, "You look like a Lass!"_

"_What's a Lass?" _

_She giggled. "You silly. It'll be your name!"_

_The boy blinked, a little surprised. But then a small, barely noticeable smile came onto his face and he nodded at the name. "Alright then, you can call me Lass."_

"_Yay!" She exclaimed. "Hey, you wanna be friends?" _

_He cocked his head to the side. "What's a friend?"_

_The girl gasped. "You don't know what a friend is? How sad!" She said, hugging him once more. "Well I'll just have to educate you!" She nodded to what seemed like herself. "A friend is someone you like to spend time with and get along with. Oh and you can always be yourself with them!" She explained happily. "Soooooo you wanna be my friend?"_

_The boy paused, thinking her explanation through. Finally, he nodded. "O...okay." He said a little nervously. "You seem nice."_

"_Yay!" She cheered again, hugging him tighter for a moment before letting him go. "Ok then let's go have some fun!" She took his hand and was about to try and pull him off when a yell cut through the air._

"_BOY GET OVER HERE NOW!" It was a woman's voice, one that made the boy frown a little. _

"_I'm sorry Arme, but the lady's calling. I have to go now." He said._

"_Awwww, well I guess we can just play the next time we meet! Okay?" She asked happily and the boy nodded before running off. "By Lass! I can't wait till we can play!" She yelled after him, waving as he left._

_Little did either of them know at the time that they wouldn't see each other again, at least not for some time, when neither of them remembered their meeting as kids._

During the dream, Lass pulled Arme closer, burying his face even more into her wonderful smelling purple locks.

Come morning though, the dream was forgotten.

* * *

Shot I know, but I had to write it down. It came to me while I was writing the end part of the last chapter. I thought it was kinda cute. Who knows, later on I might expound on the idea of Lass and Arme meeting as kids.

Anyways, till next time,

-Xire


	16. Dream

I saw the 'Lass childhood' picture on Cows Blog today and this popped into my head and I just had to write it down. So, enjoy.

* * *

What an odd dream it had been, however short it may have turned out to be. That couldn't have really been me, could it?

I was standing in front of the mirror in my room, half dressed and comparing what the supposed 'me' in my dream looked like to what I looked like now. In the dream I had been a small child, with scales on my face, neck and shoulders. Who knows, there might have been more in other places, but I never saw any lower than the shoulders. Skin and hair color had been darker too; but wither or not that had just been because of the lighting, I couldn't be sure. There had been strange belts about my neck, and it almost seemed to me like it would connect to some sort chain. Perhaps I had been a prisoner, and that's why I had looked so sad? It had almost seemed like I had been crying as well, but the tear streaks didn't look like that of a normal tear. No, it had looked more like that of blood. I shook my head to clear the thought. It had just been a dream, hadn't it? It had seemed so realistic though…whatever it had been wither a dream or a lost memory, I couldn't be sure.

I slowly reached up a hand and lightly touched my cheek, almost expecting to feel smooth scales there despite the fact that my image in the mirror told that they weren't there. Of course the mirror was right, I felt nothing there but skin. It was a strange sensation to have, that of expecting something to be there and in the end finding out that it wasn't there after all.

"Lass are you ok?" It was Arme's voice that called to me from behind. "You're just standing there." I didn't answer her as I felt her wrapping her arms around my waist from behind and resting her head on my back. "You know you can tell me whatever it is." I heard her say quietly after I continued to remain silent.

I took another moment before speaking, asking her my own question. "Have you ever had a dream where you looked almost entirely different than you do now?"

I could tell that she was thinking about it when it took her a few moments to answer. "Um, I don't really think so…why?" She sounded a bit confused.

I shook my head, closing my eyes briefly. "No, it's nothing. Forget I asked." I stated softly, gently removing her arms from around me and moving over to my bed where the top half of my clothes laid waiting.

"Oh c'mon Lass! Where did that kind of question come from? You can tell me!" I could tell she was pouting in the cute way of hers even without looking. I didn't answer her however, instead putting the rest of my attire on in silence. "Lass!" She complained as I began to head towards the exit of my room. I still decided to remain silent, as I didn't really want to explain to her what my dream had exactly been about.

I really shouldn't have been surprised when her next course of action was to stand in my doorway blocking me leaving. "What are you doing?" I asked sighing, even though I had already guessed the answer. She had a stubborn streak a mile wide that went along with her childish nature.

"I'm not leaving until you give me an answer!" She answered with an obvious determination.

I sighed again. "And what if I don't want to tell you?"

"Well then I guess we'll be here for awhile then, won't we?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so." With that I picked her up and placed her behind me before leaving the room.

As I left I could hear her shouting after me to come back and tell her what all that had been about. Instead I took off running, heading for one of my many hiding places. If that dream had been reality, I'm sure that witch Kaze'Aze had something to do with it.

* * *

Ya I know it's short, but this is all that I came up with. If I ever think of more I might extend this a bit. But for now this is all, hope you enjoyed.

-Xire


	17. Love

Love was a complicated emotion. No matter how many times she managed to annoy me, I was always drawn right back to her. And as time went by, I found myself needing and wanting her presence more and more, until it was almost down right unbearable when she wasn't there, he and he near constant chatter about something or other. I loved to just sit or lay there and just listen to her sweet, melodious voice, so I was fine staying silent.

There were times though when she acted so childish that I couldn't stand it and would usually end up saying something stupid; but it only ever took a short while before I would be back once more, asking for forgiveness once again and she'd always give it. I don't know how she managed to be so forgiving of me all the time, especially when it seemed to me like I did nothing but mess up. But she did, and I admit there is a part of me that thinks that I should tell her to stop it, that I am undeserving of such a gift. The rest of me, however, doesn't think that I could live without her and her tender forgiveness, her loving words and gentle kisses. It knows that should she leave I would be nothing but an empty shell, devoid of anything but guilt and self-hate.

She completes me in a way I almost don't understand. Perhaps that steams from the fact that I still don't completely understand love. After all, it quite a long time to figure out what it even was, and to find that I am in now way an expert in it. I am sure that what I do know of love is only barely scratching the surface of what it can be. Or so I think, anyways.

She's on a mission right now, and I can't help but worry about her. I know she is a powerful and skilled mage, but I can't help it. I worry if she's hurt, if she has enough to eat, if she's tired, if the mission's going well, if she's lost...and the list goes on and on. She's gone and have no control over what happens to her, and I hate it.

Most times when she's gone, I find my thoughts drifting thoughts and memories that I would rather stay buried withing the deep depths of my mind. Some are the terrible memories I have of growing up in that...that place. That horrible horrible place. Others were of Kaze'Aze, and the time I spent being possessed by her, which isn't much better. Others are my fears, my worries.

The biggest one is that my darkest secret will be revealed, the one that I haven't told anyone about. The one about what I really am, but no longer look like. Sometimes I dream about being that way still, and when I wake up I expect to find the scales and the claws be there. But as always, there were gone, just like they had been since Kaze'Aze had possessed me.

I was afraid that if they found out, especially if Arme found out, then I would all alone once again. Sure, there were non humans in chase like elves and the immortal to name a few. But none of them looked the way I had, none of them considered a half blood freak of nature.

I don't want her to find out about me. I don't think I could stand it if she hated me, it would most likely kill me if that happened. Being actually cared for is so much better than what I had known for the first part of my life. I couldn't take it if that were gone...

* * *

-Xire


	18. Zoo

This is actually one of my older ones, and has been sitting on my hard drive for awhile, as I wasn't sure it was finished or not. It's also just been sitting there because my inspiration for it kinda went poof. I actually had kinda forgotten about it, but I was going through my one shots folder and found it lol. Reading it over again I decided that it's fine how it is. And just to let you know, I have absolutely no idea where this one came from, it just did XD

* * *

"What do you take me for, an animal?" Lass exclaimed, ears pressed flat against his head as he was being dragged along a dark corridor. There was a thick metal collar around his neck, complete with a semi-long chain attached, which was perfect to use in pulling the boy along. The man pulling on said chain didn't speak a word, instead continuing in silence, never even sparing so much as a glance. The man was somewhat tall, with very short, slicked back black hair and wearing an outfit that was very much like that of a butler's. While all that Lass had was a simple pair of long, beat up pants that might've been blue at one point, but were now so worn that all but very faint traces of its original color remained.

He wasn't really sure how he had gotten here, let alone what had happened. The first thing he could remember was waking up chained to the back of someone's cart, devoid of any sort weapon and wearing what he now currently was. He had tried to remember where or what he had been doing before this, but no matter what he did, he always game up with a blank. He wasn't even sure who he was, for that matter. It was frustrating, and maybe even a little…frightening. Although, that didn't stop him from being annoyed by the fact that this man was pulling him along like some sort of common animal. Lass didn't know _why_ he had certain cat body parts, but he was certain that it didn't warrant being treated like he was.

"Would you answer me alread-" He began, but was cut off as he was jerked sharply into a room, the force of it actually causing him to fall to the ground.

"Master, I have brought a new addition." The supposed butler said to the back of a maroon colored plush chair that was facing a large window.

_So he can talk…_Lass thought as he pulled himself up from the floor to stand. He looked around the room to find that it was much different from the dark and dreary hallway that he had just been in. This room was fairly large and well kept, with several comfortable looking chairs and couches scattered about, all the same color as the one in front of the window. All along the entire expanse of the walls save for the window (as that took up an entire wall itself), and the door they had just come through, were covered in bookshelves, all brimming full to capacity.

Slowly, the chair in front of the window turned around to reveal a man sitting in it. The man didn't seem to be very young, nor did he seem overly old; there was something very odd to the man's face that didn't belie his real age to constantly keep you guessing. He had very short, messy black hair and eyes that were so dark they were almost the same color as his hair. He was grinning at the pair that had just entered, mainly towards Lass. It was a grin that made the boy uneasy, a grin that you could tell you didn't want to know what the man was thinking.

"You have done well, Egor. A cat is a very nice catch, one that I have needing for my collection." The man spoke in a calm and collected manner. "You shall be rewarded quite well for getting something so rare." He got up from his chair and went over to Lass who, on instinct, backed up a few paces. The man laughed as he saw this, but did not cease his advancement. "You have no need to worry, cat. I promise I will not harm you." The grin of his grew ever wider, and Lass found himself at the end of the chain, wishing more than anything for the ability to bolt out of room and to some place far away. "After all, I take good care of my pets."

* * *

Well, there you go, it is a bit strange. Who knows, maybe one of these days my inspiration will come back and I'll add to it. If anyone else has ideas of what else could happen and how Lass got captured, I'd be curious to know.

Anywho, till next time,

-Xire


End file.
